With the spoiling of Retreat to Coralhelm in the fall 2015 set Battle for Zendikar, Knight of the Reliquary rose from the unplayable card pile of the Modern format to complete the two card combo and deliver one hit kills. It took only two months for Knightfall to go from a brand new deck with only a handful of pilots to a tier two status.
As is often the case with Collected Company decks, there have been many changes to the deck with each new creature card printing, allowing every individual leave their mark on the deck through variations and tech choices. Distinct variations from early Knightfall builds include Spell Queller variants, straight Bant variants that forgo Retreat to Coralhelm to focus on Collected Company, Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies variants that employ the infinite mana combo, and four colour variants that delve deeper into Red.
The deck has reached a top 4 finish at GP Guangzhou piloted by Kelvin Chew and has also had many notable finishes on the SCG circuit. Backed by the flexible toolbox nature of the deck and various combos, Knightfall always remains a solid deck choice in the modern metagame.
The decks play style takes cues from classic Splinter Twin lists and Abzan Company. It operates with the plan A being to combo out and win in a single turn and plan B to beat down the opponent through combat damage. By constantly applying pressure though very tempo-efficient and large creatures the deck aims to present must-deal threats each turn. Creatures like Knight of the Reliquary, Scavenging Ooze, and Voice of Resurgence are naturally well positioned against BG/x and Blue based Lightning Bolt decks which puts the deck in a strong position even entering game 1 vs the majority of the field in Modern. These threats are backed up by Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit, and Spellskite to ensure they can connect with the opponent. While putting pressure on the opponent through these threats you can find a window to play Retreat to Coralhelm and win with one lethal swing from a Knight.
Retreat to Coralhelm is the reason the deck is able to function. On the surface it enables the combo with Knight of the Reliquary but the value it provides goes much farther than just that. While sequencing the combo if you have a manadork in play you can generate an additional mana for every fetchland that enters the battlefield. If you end your fetching chain with Kessig Wolf Run you can pump all of the generated mana into it to attack for upwards of 30 damage in one turn. Retreat to Coralhelm can also be very useful without Knight of the Reliquary. It can use every topdecked land to tap down the opponents creatures to further the beat-down plan. The worst case scenario is that Reterat will help you scry through your deck and find key cards. Not many other things in Modern can make you excited for late game topdecked lands.
Bant has historically not been a prominent colour combination in the format because of its lack of powerful disruption outside of Path to Exile. This has changed with the printing of Spell Queller allowing for tempo plays and often acting as hard removal against the removal-lite linear decks of the format. The Bant shell has taken on Collected Company as its key card advantage as many other green based creature decks have also done since its printing. High manadork counts of Noble Heirarch and Birds of Paradise are key in ensuring the deck has access to 3 mana on turn 2 as often as possible since the core of the deck operates at the three converted mana cost.
Although the 'combo' found in the deck does not technically go infinite, it should really be called synergy. However for our purposes it will almost always end the game and therefor is good enough to be called a combo.
Depending on the maindeck choices there can be up to three infinite combos found in the deck:
Once you have both a non-summoning sick Knight and Retreat in play as well as a Forest or Plains, you can pull out pretty much every land from your deck to pump the Knight before attacking. The sequencing for this is as follows:
- Make some mana with the land you will sacrifice to Knight of the Reliquary
- Tap Knight and sacrifice the land (Forest or Plains)
- Search your library for a fetchland and put it into play triggering Retreat
- Using the fetchland Retreat trigger, untap your Knight
- Crack the fetchland and put a Forest or Plains subtype land into play, triggering Retreat again
- Since your Knight is already untapped, choose to tap down a blocker, untap something else, or put a scry trigger on the stack to be used later
- Repeat the previous steps for as many fetchlands/Forest/Plains are in the deck
- End with putting Kessig Wolf Run into play and pumping your Knight with all the previously floated mana
There are a lot of different lines to take when pulling lands out from your deck. There really is no better way to learn the lines of the deck than goldfishing and gaining experience. One thing to keep in mind however is to always immediately play or search out a fetchland once you resolve Retreat to Coralhelm. This allows for instant speed protection at any point until you want to enable the combo.
This two card combo creates infinite mana. You can create mana in response to nearly anything so once both creatures are in play you are guaranteed the mana. Use a mana sink to find a way to win.
This combo is rarely played anymore, but is included for completeness of the primer. Starting with both creatures in play:
- Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spike Feeder and gain 2 life.
- Archangel's ability will trigger and put a +1/+1 counter on all your creatures.
You have done one loop of the combo, repeat as many times as needed for infinite life and infinite +1/+1 counters on all of your creatures
If you are still looking for further info, check out the sample decklists for some of the best performing results to date. The results section has lists articles and videos from other Bant Knightfall payers in the community. Or click here for all up to date MTGO results. If you are looking for some new sideboard tech or just wondering what cards are often played then check out the card choices section.
Hierarch is the premier manadork for the deck. It provides all of the colours of mana, Exalted makes the small creatures of the deck a bit more respectable and makes everything else hit even harder.
Birds is more versatile than the Hierarch as it provides a fourth colour for the deck, but that is less of an issue since Knight also fixes your mana. It can block flying creatures in a pinch and provide some reach by flying over other creatures with an active Kessig Wolf Run or Gavony Township.
Devoted Druid & Vizier of Remedies
Druid pulls double duty as both a combo piece and mana dork. It can be very explosive, jumping from 2 to 4 mana with a single turn. In some cases, if Druid is getting Pathed then you can suicide it using the untap ability to return it from the graveyard at a later point. The same goes for an opponent casting a Living End. Druid won't live long most games, so always be aware of when you should be trying to force the combo and when you should be trying to beat down the opponent.
Vizier is a weaker version of Anafenza and Melira, Sylvok Outcast]Melira in a vacuum but she creates a two card combo which is better in the long run. It is often correct to hold your Vizier until you can untap with your Druid, since once Vizier resolves there is nothing commonly played in the format that can stop you from gaining infinite mana.
Duskwatch Recruiter // Krallenhorde Howler
Recruiter acts as redundant copies of your true win condition(s) for when you don't have them. He is a mana sink that can draw every creature in your deck and also rearrange your deck to any order given it doesn't contain an amount of cards divisible by 3. Outside of the combo he is useful at creating card advantage in topdeck situations or just when you have extra mana. The flipside mana reduction is pretty good at helping dump your hand when you need it, but the card actually gets worse when it transforms because you can get stuck in situations where you have infinite mana and can't use it.
Scavenging Ooze
Aside from being another big must-deal-with creature ooze acts as maindeck graveyard hate and always gives you something to do with your mana. He is also not just for exiling creatures, as he can shrink opposing Goyfs, stop Snapcaster Mage targets, Gift's Ungiven strategies, and many other fringe decks. The downside is that they don't stack up well in multiples since they compete for the same resources.
Voice of Resurgence
Voice is integral maindeck hate against instant speed interaction. It is a good hatebear to round out the decks other disruptive creatures and it will provide an even larger body once it dies. Voice is at it's best for the matchups where you can go wide and and pressure the opponent into not casting their cards.
Qasali Pridemage
The bigger cat cousin of Noble Hierarch, Pridemage completes the trifecta of hatebears that the deck mainboards. Besides being able to snipe at least one card in almost any deck he provides an immediate Exalted boost to attackers. Take pride in running a couple of them mainboard alongside Collected Company to act as instant speed removal when you get lucky.
Selfless Spirit & Spellskite
Selfless Spirit is the newest defensive addition to the deck. Pros to running it over Spellskite include it not dying to artifact removal, protecting against sweepers like Anger of the Gods, Supreme Verdict, and Damnation, and still stopping single-target removal spells like Fatal Push. It even presents a fast clock in the air when exalted. Downsides are that it can't stop more than one removal spell, and doesn't block as well.
Spellskite is backup protection, but preforms better against targeted removal. It flat out stops Burn, Infect, and can stop Ad Nauseam or Scapeshift in some situations. It also diverts any targeted effects like Kolaghan's Command or Kessig Wolf Run. It is a little better Game 1 while Selfless Spirit will often be better post board.
Courser of Kruphix
The green menace of Standard past has set a new course straight for the Modern format. He synergises extremely well with the scry from Retreat to Coralhelm by digging several cards deep with every land drop. The lifegain he provides can offset the life loss from Shocklands when you are comboing out and is often relevant in order to survive some aggressive decks. Overall this card-advantage-aggro-walling-synergistic-centaur-of-a-machine is a great addition to the deck.
Tireless Tracker
Tracker is great to pair with Knight as you will be getting a lot of landfall triggers. Always play a land after Tracker so you are guaranteed to get the trigger. It really adds a lot of consistency to the deck for when things get grindy, and can help gain a card advantage in the late game when you need it the most.
Knight of the Reliquary
The flagship card of the deck. Knight has never quite made the cut in Modern because the lands available just aren't as diverse as in Legacy Mavrick. Even Zoo decks had turned away from wanting a giant vanilla creature. With the printing of Retreat to Coralhelm the prospect of one hit kills came into the picture and that little bit extra is what pushed the Knight into the realm of playability. It is important to know when to go for the combo and when to hold back in order to not get blown out by a removal spell. Much like Twin decks of the past, opponents will to play around the combo when you don't even have it and end up making sub-optimal plays because of it. If you are going to combo out then hold up a fetchland before going for it as explained in the Tips & Tricks section. Put the feat in the opponent as you tempo them down with other smaller creatures.
Spell Queller
The printing of Eldritch Moon introduced Spell Queller to the Modern format. This unassumingly understated spirit has been the key to the decks current success. It provides interaction with decks that were previously poor matchups such as Scapeshift or Ad Nauseam decks. Many linear decks in Modern play very little removal game 1, such as Affinity, Infect, Abzan Company, Ad Nauseam, RG Titan Breach/Scapeshift, Bant Eldrazi, Dredge, etc... Alongside Collected Company there is quite a bit of instant speed interaction in the deck that will begin to worry the opponent with every card held in hand.
Reflector Mage
Reflector Mage is great on both offence and defense by removing a blocker or preventing an attacker for two turns. When flashed in by Collected Company or Chord of Calling it is extra potent as using it on the opponents turn adds an additional turn to its effect. Pure combo-less Bant builds have found success by playing a playset, it's just that good.
Rhonas the Indomitable & Walking Ballista
Rhonas and card=Walking Ballista]Ballista[/card] are the two main manasink win-conditions for the deck when using the Druid-Vizier combo. Rhonas offers an indestructible body which is great for blocking other large creatures like Death's Shadow, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, or Tarmogoyf. His pump ability will allow your Druid to attack for lethal in one swing, and it can put in some extra damage over the course of the game. A big bonus over Ballista is that he is hit off of Collected Company and Chord of Calling. He is also weak to Path to Exile.
Ballista offers a way to win without the combat step, which is something the deck already excels at. It is useful for picking off opposing small creatures but has a major downside of not being able to be found from either Collected Company or Chord of Calling. It has good synergy with Gavony Township, can dodge Path to Exile, and can be cast for 0 to enable Revolt in rare cases.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty
Shalai is reminiscent of other cards like Archangel of Thune, but upon closer inspection she does much much more. Combining Asceticism, Aegis of the Gods, and Gavony Township with a 4 toughness body putting it out Bolt range is an amazing card. She protects your fragile combopieces and is an infinite mana sink to boot. Not working with Collected Company is a small price worth not paying for this card.
Proven Maindeck Noncreature Spells
Path to Exile
Path is the go-to removal spell in Bant. It essentially the only unconditional removal spell in colours that are already lacking removal. It is great at what it does, and when paired with Retreat to Coralhelm it becomes even better. If something ever goes wrong you can Path your own creature and use the extra landfall trigger to get out of trouble. Very powerful and versatile card in the deck.
Chord of Calling
A great tutor for any creature in the deck. After going wide with a Collected Company you can cast this for free and find the missing part of the combo. You can sideboard in silver bullets in games 2 and 3 and search them out to take over a game. The card is more important than ever because Collected Company is not guaranteed to give you the card you want but Chord will. This means having access to Chords is more important than ever, so be wary of the chances to flip one combo piece compared to another.
Collected Company
Collected Company may not be the card advantage the deck deserves, but it's the card advantage the deck needs. Foregoing traditional Blue card draw and loading up on undercosted creatures in an attempt to cheat them into play, Collected Company allows for holding up removal while still doing its best SplinterTwin impression. It is the best way for smaller Bant and Zoo decks to keep up with the other options in Modern. The biggest problem that arises is the deck building restrictions that it imposes and variance that it brings. These can be mitigated, if you want to read more on it then check out the Math behind Collected Company section.
Retreat to Coralhelm
The reason this deck has been made possible. Not only for the combo potential with Knight of the Reliquary but also because it works well on its own. By turning every topdeck or fetchland into extra value it gives the deck reach where it otherwise would normally be lacking. By tapping down opponents blockers it allows for massive attacks and better aggro plays. It helps dig through the deck by stacking scry triggers off of fetchlands and then seeing several cards deep at once. It even turns every manadork into a Lotus Cobra. The power of the card comes from the extra push and versatility that it brings when other decks would normally be drawing dead cards. Although it is a centerpiece of the deck, it does not need to be played in multiples every game. Simply running it in the deck to enhance the game when drawn is all that is needed. Typically run 3 and adjust the numbers from there.
Fetchlands are essential to this deck no matter what your list looks like. Getting two landfall triggers in a turn gives more triggers to Retreat to Coralhelm and can allows Knight of the Reliquary to grow larger. Fetchalnds are staples in almost every deck in Modern, and this is no exception. Always try to play around 10 to maximize the value you can get out of them.
If Fetchalnds are the bread of the manabase, then Shocklands are the butter. They give better access to all of the colours needed and allow Knight of the Reliquary to still fetch certain colours even when the only lands left in your deck are off-colour. They are necessary for the deck to operate properly, so always play one of each and then increase them as needed from there. Be weary though as the life loss will begin to add up.
Plains & Island & Forest
Playnig some number of basic lands is always very important. By playing 3 or 4 colours the deck is already weak to Blood Moon. More Basics also allow for a less painful combo with Knight and Retreat. Always prioritize playing Forests and Plains over Islands since they can be searched out easier and they are the main two colours of the deck no matter what list you are running. Most lists opt to play no Islands at all which can change heavily by how much you expect Blood Moon to be present in the metagame and how valuable your life total is.
Horizon Canopy
This is a great utility land to play in the deck. The real power of comes from the card draw that can be stacked with a ton of scry trigger during the combo to dig for answers against a specific threat. Aside from that being able to draw a card at instant speed is never going to be a dead draw.
Kessig Wolf Run
Brian Kibler would be proud to see the wolf run back in full force. When comboing out, each land put into play can be tapped for a mana before being sacrificed to continue the chain. As the last land searched out by Knight of the Reliquary during the combo all of the mana from before can be dumped into it to make an already giant Knight even larger and able to trample over any sized blocker for a one hit kill. It even provides a great mana sink lategame that can provide reach and break stalemates. By causing even the most innocent Noble Heirarch to become a threat, Wolf Run is a great addition to every list while only requiring a very small red splash.
Gavony Township
Township is a great utility land to turn event the smallest of creatures into game ending threats very quickly. It is most used in Bant and Collected Company lists as a result of a high manadork count. Just holding up mana quickly messes up combat math for your opponents. A great utility land if you are playing against midrange lists or expect the games to be long and resource dependent.
Ghost Quarter
Normally this land is reserved for attacking manlands and Urzatron strategies, but much like Path to Exile, when paired with Retreat to Coralhelm it adds another dimension to the deck. By targeting your own land it is able to pull a basic land out of the deck and gain a landfall trigger. This can be useful in untapping a creature or getting a Forest or Plains to start the combo when none are already in play. It can also mess up combat math for opponents who are not expecting the extra +1/+1 from Knight of the Reliquary.
Proven Sideboard Cards
Kitchen Finks & Rhox War Monk
Finks is the definition of value. The life it gains essentially allows for two free Shocklands. It trades with two cards from the opponent and has the option of being reset by Restoration Angle or Gavnoy Township. Unless you are in a meta with heavy aggro or BG/x decks, Finks really shouldn't be maindecked. There are simply better options available for going blind into game 1, but if you have a good idea of what you are getting into then Finks is what you want to beat any Burn/Zoo/BG decks that you may face. Rhox War Monk covers all of the same points but has the potential to last longer while being weaker to removal. Choose according to your metagame.
Aven Mindcensor
A great way to stop decks that rely on heavy library searching like Bloom Titan and GR Tron. Flying can be relevant evasion when you need it with Kessig Wolf Run. Flash good in Collected Company versions as it allows for more plays when holding up mana. It can sometimes catch your opponent off guard.
Izzet Staticaster
A way to ping down opposing manadorks, small creatures like Viscera Seer or tokens. You can always put the last point of damage on a creature or slowly hit the opponent down. Flash can be relevant when you draw it instead of Collected Company giving it pseudo-flash, but Haste is what puts it over the top. Most often these kind of ping effects are on creatures with summoning sickness.
Blessed Alliance
Another card that came to light with Eldritch Moon. All of the modes are relevant and perform different things in different games. Because of its cheap cost it is very easy to sideboard in and escalate when you have extra mana to spare.
Having some counterspells in the board is never going to be wrong. Negate is going to be the most common one to run as it is going to guarantee a counter. Stubborn Denial is a fringe counter to run since Knight of the Reliquary or even Voice of Resurgence turn on Ferocious. Spell Pierce can be chosen as a cheap alternative, and Unified Will has merit in certain metagames.
Rest in Peace
One of the best cards available to combat graveyard centered decks. This is certain to slow the opponent down completely as opposed to the slow-roll of Scavenging Ooze.
Kataki, War's Wage & Stony Silence
Similarly to Burn, if you are having trouble with the Affinity matchup and want a very strong sideboard card, then start praying to the god of Artifact hate. Aside from being great against Frank Karsten, Kataki is extra potent when playing Collected Company versions of the deck. Although he has the ability to wipe out half of the Affinity players board in one upkeep, there is still high variance that depends on the board state of the Affinity player and how early Kataki is played. Often times he will only slow them down and not lock them out. Stony Silence on the other hand is going to be a more consistent option most of the time as it hurts multiple decks and is just as effective early game as it is late game. If you are not completely relying on Collected Company then this is the card to run.
Worship
Cheesing out a win is still a win. Most times other pilots won't expect it and even some decks don't have a way in their 75 to remove it. Having a few around will always result in some fun games.
Among the aforementioned cards, there are some other less common ones that will see play in successful lists from time to time. These cards may not always make the maindeck cut but they can be useful in certain situations and are always a good option to have around in case you want to add some super secret tech to your deck. If they are not played as a 1-of in the maindeck they will most often be added into the sideboard to hate out certain strategies. If you have a solid reason for playing them then no one can fault you for it.
Tarmogoyf
A staple of green decks in Modern, Goyf represents a must-deal threat on board that takes the focus away from Knight of the Reliquary. Bant traditionally has a problem getting enough card-types into the graveyard because of it's lack of removal or discard cards. The deck can naturally get land and creature into it and has the benefit of running everything but tribal (and often not planeswalkers but Nahiri has shown up before.)
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Thalia is a great hatebear to mess up a combo player trying to win on turns 3-4, or noncreature-heavy decks trying to curve out. The tax isn't normally played around which can be crippling for unsuspecting players. When siding her in make sure to lower your own noncreature count so that you don't end up with turns of not being able to play your own spells.
Eternal Witness
Opponents are going to have a hard time witnessing the value that you get when Collected Company flips over one of these only to return it to your hand. Bant is traditionally pretty slow, so a version trying to out-value the opponent will look to play at least a few. She pairs well with flicker effects giving a way to gain card advantage in colours that already has problems doing so.
Flickerwisp
Baby-resto is great in Bant Collected Company shells for its ability to remove blockers, pseudo-vigilance your own attackers, give you extra landfall triggers, remove problem permanents like Ensnaring Bridge for a turn, use more ETBeffects, all while representing a powerful attacker in the air. If you are looking to play the longer game and out value your opponent then this can be a neat tech-choice in certain versions of the deck.
Loxodon Smiter
The elephant in the room has a longing to play magic the way Richard Garfield intended. It hates on counterspells, discard, and especially Liliana of the Veil. It provides a great body for the beatdown plan and pairs well with Voice to hate out UR and BG matchups. The three drop slot in is pretty crowded already so playing a vanilla creature isn't always the best option for game 1's. We want to have flexibility as well as large creatures so play only a few unless you expect it to lox down the meta.
Geist of Saint Traft
Rumor has it that control players have a fear of ghosts, and Geist is why. He can come down as early as turn 2 and when uninterrupted he threatens a 3 turn clock. Exalted creatures are Geist's best friend, making turn 1 Noble Heirarch into turn 2 Geist is one of the strongest openers the deck can have. 3 copies is the magic number when playing Geist because of the legend rule. You want to draw it and see it every game but not be getting multiples.
Restoration Angel
Restoration Angle has left Thragtusk behind while making her Modern debut. She fits into the Midrange Bant shell and you want to avoid her in the Collected Company shells because of the 4 cmc. Resto is a great at protecting creatures from blockers or removal. If you are looking for a more resilient creature than Flickerwisp then this is the best option.
Kor Firewalker
Kor Firewalker shuts down Burn decks hard, as well can put a dent in the gameplan of Zoo and Jund decks. If you are having problems with the burn matchup, or if the reach from BoltSnapBolt is beating you too much then join the pro-red club and start looking for some free wins.
Eidolon of Rhetoric
Eidolon is a Bolt proof Rule of Law that still gets hit by Collected Company. It is great in those combo matchups like Ad Nauseum, Storm, etc... It can heavily slow down decks that rely on casting multiple things a turn, such as Affinity or UR Delver. Just make sure you can cast it fast enough to get enough value out of it.
Dromoka's Command
With all of the options available, it will often put you in a commanding lead after casting it. First off it prevents spells that would often cause a blowout, like Anger of the Gods or removal like Lightning Bolt. Second, it gets rid of problem enchantments such as Eidolon of the Great Revel or Leyline of the Void which hurt Knight of the Reliquary a lot. Third it buffs Geist makes your Goyf larger than the opponents, or resets a persisted Kitchen Finks. Lastly it acts as a removal spell as your creatures will often be naturally larger than the opponents. You can even use an Angel token to remove an opponents creature. Overall this swiss army knife of a card will provide value to almost any deck.
Bant Charm
The charm is versatile with powerful effects acting as Dispel, Shatter, and Condemn all in one. Although most of these cards are sideboard material on their own, the flexibility of having them all to once on one card allows for for it to be rarely be dead. The price for this is the heavy manacost so if you can tune card slots to the metagame at hand then the payoff will be greater.
Cinder Glade & Canopy Vista & Prairie Stream
It takes two to tango, and that's the highest amount of these new lands that you want to be running. While coming into paly untapped is excellent, but this is still very colour intensive and too many basics can hurt the performance of the deck. One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes you will be keeping up a uncracked fetchland and having to sacrifice one of your other basic lands, thins means that any tango land searched out with Knight will come into pay tapped and not provide any mana for things like Kessig Wolf Run. You may also get early game hands that require other colours and force you into paying a tapped land. This is very bad since you should always be the aggressor and not time walk yourself just because of a sub-par manabase. If you play any number of these lands, play them very conservatively.
Sejiri Steppe
The main form of combo protection in the deck, and it doesn't even take up a card slot! The worse thing that can happen is that you draw this, but it still acts as single free attack for a turn rather than a blowout to the opponents removal. By always stopping holding up a land to respond to creature removal during the combo there is no way to prevent Knight from getting as large as it can. This is an essential card and part of what can make the combo so potent. Never leave home without at least one.
Bojuka Bog
There aren't too many powerful lands in Modern, but some extra utility lands for Knight are never bad to run. There are a few land flex slots in the mainboard, but anything too extreme like the Bog should probably be kept out for game 1 unless you are really hunting gaveyard decks.
Rogue's Passage
If you can't commit to splashing red for Kessig Wolf Run then this is the next best option. It chooses to sneak around the opponents creatures rather than over top of them. A good utility land to have access to in Bant colours as it is something that traditionally lacks burn to close out games and can be stalled very easily by single cards like Lingering Souls.
The in-house sideboarding guide is not made yet. If someone from the community wants to take on making one themselves then PM me and we can work something out. Otherwise check out this great guide by Kelvin Chew for an up to date sideboarding guide from someone who knows the deck better than me.
Some tips and tricks to look for when playing the deck include:
In order to avoid flash blockers or removal, you only need to combo off partially. Once blockers are declared you can then continue comboing off until you have a lethal amount of damage or to tap down any flash blockers from the opponent This is relavent against other Collected Company decks, Aether Vial, Restoration Angle, Snapcaster Mage, etc...
When comboing always untap the Knight on each fetchland you grab. That way if someone tries to remove it in response to the untap trigger (why make this play I'm not sure) then you can crack the fetch and untap the Knight and continue in response.
When comboing if there are no threats from the opponent each fetchland can untap a manadork in play for an extra large Kessig Wolf Run activation.
Ghost Quarter your own land to get an extra landfall trigger and mana in a pinch. This can be used to tap down more a creatures if you are playing an Island, or to make Knight larger.
To attack through an Ensnaring Bridge, combo on your first main phase and choose to scry off of each fetch entering play and then crack it in response. End your chain with Horizon Canopy and some floating mana. This way you can stack up as many scry triggers as possible and let them all resolve at once to get 5-6 scrys to dig for an answer. If it is ontop of your deck crack the Canopy to draw it and destroy the Bridge.
The general conclusion is that the ideal number of creatures in the deck should be around 27-28 so that Collected Company has over a 97 percent chance to hit something on every cast. This also gives a 86 percent chance of hitting two creatures. Of course this is the ideal scenario and between your opening 7 and anything you draw before casting the first Collected Company will reduce these odds. After factoring in any dead cards, the amount of creatures that you want to hit is ideally 23, giving a 75 percent chance of getting two good creatures on the first cast. These graphs created by Salvation user Kleronomas should help give a better idea of the general creatures to run in your deck to get the most out of Collected Company.
If the following graphs aren't enough for you, then check out this spreadsheet with a breakdown of exactly what is going on at every single creature count. If you want to get the most out of the deck then it is important to understand the math behind Collected Company and know when is the best time to use it.
In order to get a fast start with the deck you always want to aim for a manadork in your opening hand. 7 manadorks is the optimal number by giving a 60 percent chance of having one in the opening hand while 6 will drop it down to a 54 percent chance. If you are playing a Bant version then you should be running the a 4/3 Birds of Paradise/Noble Heirarch split.
04/10/2015 - Published new primer! 04/10/2015 - Added Lands and Spells card choice section. 10/02/2016 - Redid most of the primer. 08/06/2016 - We top 8'd a GP! 07/10/2016 - Updated sample decks and articles. 12/01/2017 - Huge update adding Eldritch Moon cards, removed and updated outdated info in every section.
Tideforce is unnecessary here; Retreat alone can go pseudo-infinite with KotR. This is important because it also allows you to tap each land for mana before eating it. Current versions I'm working on have Lotus Cobra and a single Wolf Run. Use a few spare triggers to tap down blockers, then dump your mana and make the kill.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Slowly breaking.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
Tideforce is unnecessary here; Retreat alone can go pseudo-infinite with KotR. This is important because it also allows you to tap each land for mana before eating it. Current versions I'm working on have Lotus Cobra and a single Wolf Run. Use a few spare triggers to tap down blockers, then dump your mana and make the kill.
I was really wary of finding enough lands, so I didn't really want to run anything producing colorless. Wolf Run is an interesting idea though as it allows for a pretty consistent 1-shot of the opponent every time. If you stack the fetch triggers you can grab both Wolf Run and Sejiri Steppe on the final trigger which is cool. Do you have a way of consistently drawing Retreat to Coralhelm, or is it more of a "If it happens then I'll go off"? Do you have a list I could compare to what I have been thinking about?
Kessig Wolf Run seems like it would work better, all you need to add would be a Sacred Foundry. Combo sac , and with all the mana open the last land you would search would be SF --> WR. I don't know if that is necessary for the splash. Could be useful vs affinity as sejiri steppe doesn't do anything for you in that match up.
Right now I don't have a full list, but I'm definitely leaving toward having it as a small side option. I've been tinkering with Bant-ish midrange with 3-4 Retreats and no search for them. Although my friend suggested Zur because he likes to feed my insanity.
11-13 fetches
5-6 duals
1 KWR
3-5 basics
X Other utility lands
It's important to note that fetches aren't actually necessary to go infinite, they just provide excess mana and triggers, which is helpful. KotR can just cycle through every land in your deck as soon as Retreat hits the table, so use as many utility lands as possible without bogging down the manabase. In fact, despite not getting maximum value from Cobra, you could go as low as 5-8 fetches and be fine.
Other things you can do with infinite Landfall: Lethal Bitter Ordeal, aggro with Steppe Lynx/Geopede, hardcast Emrakul. Many options. If the focus here is on the combo, rather than just having the combo exist in different shells, I can try lists that do that. The skeleton list I have right now is pretty unhelpful and ready to be turned into just about anything.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Slowly breaking.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I also think its probably better as part of a more midrangey shell than just a full deck devoted to it so I doubt you need things like Lotus Cobra or Tideforce Elemental
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at. Although I feel Cobra is very strong on it's own in a landfall deck, I didn't have it to make mana during the combo when I was already winning.
Retreat is actually surprisingly good by itself; it stalls out Twin combo, keeps you alive against aggro and Infect, and ramps you twice as fast with dorks out.
Guys, this might be the next Twin-level 2 card combo. It might just be that good.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Slowly breaking.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
Guys, this might be the next Twin-level 2 card combo. It might just be that good.
What are you ramping to though with Cobra? It was used in Standard to drop early Baneslayers. I just don't think that's where you want to be in Modern. There may be some play with the fact that both Cobra and Retreat+Mana Dork gets out of hand with mana fast.
And yes, I think this is real. I preordered 40 Coralhelm's off SCG at around 2 today for 0.25 a piece. I'm risking $10. It's a free bet (they've doubled the pre-order price already to 0.49)
.
Yep, I did this as well (though not 40, 3 sets is enough for me! :D) grabbed a few of the utility lands as well.
I can just merge the threads together when I'm not on mobile. Best to keep all the ideas in one place.
Your deck is a nice idea, but what if you don't draw the Retreat? Or a KotR? We want to have a strong beatdown game outside of this new "combo". Look at how Twin and Abzan Company play. That's what I'm trying to modle the deck after.
I'm definitely feeling like it would be more like a normal deck, and have "plain old aggro deck" as plan b (similar to how Landfall Zoo with Scapeshift was a thing). So, if you just make a normal tempo-Bant list and sway it towards more Forest/Plains, I think you'd have a very very scary deck...
Honestly, this is looking like the next Twin. Its a OHKO in a very good colour set, that fits seamlessly into a functioning tempo deck.
Craaaaazy good looking right now. I think the Bant shell is the best, as you can play the classic Bant tempo game with Counterspells and I don't even think you need Kessig Wolf Run to make it happen, but a Stomping Ground/Sacred Foundry is all you're gonna need to make that kill happen.
If Retreat to Coralhelm is a part of the win-con engine. Wouldn't we want to be able to retrieve that integral part of the engine using say an Idyllic Tutor? If its about going "infinite" as quickly as possible, we would need to go find/fetch the pieces as quickly as possible and not wait around for top-decking them right?
I would think Collected Company would need to be a must have 3 or 4 in the main deck as well.
Wouldn't we need to protect the fragile nature of removal of our 1 key piece from things like Surgical Extraction in our sideboard as well?
Are there any W U or G spells out there that offer protection to enchantments OR let us tutor them out of our library?
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
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Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
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With the spoiling of Retreat to Coralhelm in the fall 2015 set Battle for Zendikar, Knight of the Reliquary rose from the unplayable card pile of the Modern format to complete the two card combo and deliver one hit kills. It took only two months for Knightfall to go from a brand new deck with only a handful of pilots to a tier two status.
As is often the case with Collected Company decks, there have been many changes to the deck with each new creature card printing, allowing every individual leave their mark on the deck through variations and tech choices. Distinct variations from early Knightfall builds include Spell Queller variants, straight Bant variants that forgo Retreat to Coralhelm to focus on Collected Company, Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies variants that employ the infinite mana combo, and four colour variants that delve deeper into Red.
The deck has reached a top 4 finish at GP Guangzhou piloted by Kelvin Chew and has also had many notable finishes on the SCG circuit. Backed by the flexible toolbox nature of the deck and various combos, Knightfall always remains a solid deck choice in the modern metagame.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Something like
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Path to Exile
11-13 fetches
5-6 duals
1 KWR
3-5 basics
X Other utility lands
It's important to note that fetches aren't actually necessary to go infinite, they just provide excess mana and triggers, which is helpful. KotR can just cycle through every land in your deck as soon as Retreat hits the table, so use as many utility lands as possible without bogging down the manabase. In fact, despite not getting maximum value from Cobra, you could go as low as 5-8 fetches and be fine.
Other things you can do with infinite Landfall: Lethal Bitter Ordeal, aggro with Steppe Lynx/Geopede, hardcast Emrakul. Many options. If the focus here is on the combo, rather than just having the combo exist in different shells, I can try lists that do that. The skeleton list I have right now is pretty unhelpful and ready to be turned into just about anything.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
I also think its probably better as part of a more midrangey shell than just a full deck devoted to it so I doubt you need things like Lotus Cobra or Tideforce Elemental
Edit: *Cough Cough* Commune With The Gods
Modern:
UWUW TronUW
Legacy:
WDeath N TaxesW
CEldrazi C
If you couldn't tell I hate greedy blue decks.
Vintage
WWhite Trash
Spirits
Retreat is actually surprisingly good by itself; it stalls out Twin combo, keeps you alive against aggro and Infect, and ramps you twice as fast with dorks out.
Guys, this might be the next Twin-level 2 card combo. It might just be that good.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
I'm going to go with blue as I like to play some of the counter game, but I think it looks cool.
Spirits
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
Any more of this, and Team Troll will be more than just a name.
I know where you post.
Yep, I did this as well (though not 40, 3 sets is enough for me! :D) grabbed a few of the utility lands as well.
Spirits
Say hello to Retreat to reliquary.
3 Collected Company
2 Detention Sphere
3 Flooded Strand
5 Forest
1 Gavony Township
4 Hedron Crab
2 Idyllic tutor
1 ISland
1 Kessig wolf run
4 knight of the reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Path to exile
5 Plains
4 Retreat to Coralhelm
4 Remand
2 Ruin Ghost
4 Serum visions
1 supreme Verdict
4 Windswept heath
The deck has the following combos:
Retreat + Knight + hedron - mill 60
Retreat + ruin ghost + hedron - inf mill
Retreat + Knight + kessig - hit for 35 trample
2x Retreat + Ruin/Knight - scry lots
Thinking of including Elixir of immortality and sphinxes rev but not sure yet. Thoughts / suggestions?
If you are struggling to set up the combo then you can always just go on the beatdown with gavony and kessig.
Other combo ideas:
Prismatic Omen + valakut
Modern:
UU TronU
URUR StormUR
RBWBurnRBW
EDH:
RBGProssh,skyraider of kherGBR
RKrenko,Mob BossR
URMelek,Izzet ParagonRU
RDaretti, Scrap savantR
WBTriad of fatesBW
Here is my take :
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/633065-retreat-to-reliquary
Ruin ghost I think is a must for redundancy.
Modern:
UU TronU
URUR StormUR
RBWBurnRBW
EDH:
RBGProssh,skyraider of kherGBR
RKrenko,Mob BossR
URMelek,Izzet ParagonRU
RDaretti, Scrap savantR
WBTriad of fatesBW
Your deck is a nice idea, but what if you don't draw the Retreat? Or a KotR? We want to have a strong beatdown game outside of this new "combo". Look at how Twin and Abzan Company play. That's what I'm trying to modle the deck after.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
got Locked for brewing with a spoiled card
Craaaaazy good looking right now. I think the Bant shell is the best, as you can play the classic Bant tempo game with Counterspells and I don't even think you need Kessig Wolf Run to make it happen, but a Stomping Ground/Sacred Foundry is all you're gonna need to make that kill happen.
I would think Collected Company would need to be a must have 3 or 4 in the main deck as well.
Wouldn't we need to protect the fragile nature of removal of our 1 key piece from things like Surgical Extraction in our sideboard as well?
Are there any W U or G spells out there that offer protection to enchantments OR let us tutor them out of our library?
So many questions.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."