That leaves us 6 cards in the sideboard and 7 in the main. The 7 in the main can obviously be extra counter spells. Bant Charm, Remand, Mana Leak and Vapor Snag all can fill that void. I'd even be willing to cut the 4 Thought Scour in the deck to add more of a threat base in spells. I think it could be a good basis since I feel that red decks are going to be all over the place. Plus, nothing is greater than remanding a treasure cruise back to someone's hand after they delved.
lookin at it, what could green offer?
I think the shell you see there is a more controlling shell, which is better for a red splash imo. With respect to the shell,green is going to offer ramping into aggressive board presence and red will offer better reach, control and sideboard. For that style of deck, red is probably better. I would definitely be more comfortable. That being said, that deck looks like it's built specifically to counter burn, and wouldnt suggest running so much burn hate MD at any paper event.
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I think bant is a hard deck to play and build. For that reason, it is not seen as a good choice by many.
I've tried a ton of builds with bant, and it seems to be at its strongest when built more as a tempo deck then midrange. We are quite different from Jund or Abzan because black offers proactivity (hand disruption instead of counterspells, bob instead of cruise/dig) whereas blue offers reactivity. These considerations are important - we're more similar to say delver than Jund in that we want to land a threat early and protect it. Our form of protection is in resiliency. Loxodon smiter can't be stopped by hand disruption and counterspells, and geist of saint traft can't be stopped by removal. These two threats make a great tag team against many of the top decks in the format. A tight decklist seems well positioned.
I don't like Rhox war monk because it seems easier to remove than the above 3-drops, and after trying finks with geist and smiter, I realized that having too many 3 drops really slows the deck down instead of helping it.
One guy I don't see others trying is Venser, Shaper Savant. This guy can be a real blowout and problem solver. I'd encourage others to give him a try... remember he isn't countering spells and therefore can return even uncounterable spells to their owners hand, which is relevant more often than you think (abrupt decay, counterflux).
Edit: Also he allows amazingly oppressive sequences.
Turn 1 noble hierarch
Turn 2 loxodon smiter or geist
turn 3 having 4 mana up on their turn is hard to play around, and you can just bounce their land EoT if they do nothing.
turn 4 restoration angel to protect threats or bounce a land again.
A few turns swinging with smither or geist is enough, and venser and restoration angel protect your board really well with the help of cheap countermagic.
I definitely like the idea of venser. I'm going to look into changing it up tonight. And I'm on the fence about monk vs smiter. Lifelink is very relevant but I can see your points
People spend a lot of time trying to wedge countermagic into Bant (not without good reason). I decided to try something a little different, just for experiment's sake. It looks pretty good so far, but I figure I could use some help on deciding the flex slots:
I consider the Geist of Saint Trafts, Vendilion Cliques, and Knight of the Reliquarys to be the flex slots. Other options for those slots include Mirran Crusader (super Lightning Bolt target, but it'd be nice to blow out Rock, Jund, Junk, and Pod), Loxodon Smiter (a favorite metagame card), and Rhox War Monk (probably very noteworthy with all the burn based decks running around these days).
Thoughts on the flex slots? Other changes you would make?
Glad to see traffic in here again. I think the best counter to run in the main is Spell Pierce.
@Mirrislegend: Like you, I run Elspeth as well. T1 dork, T2 Geist, T3 Elspeth is basically game. Geist and Elspeth present a very fast clock. I used to run a very very similar list to yours.As far as your flex spots go I would run four Geists. Knight of the Reliquary is my favorite card and I love her in my Abzan deck but I abandoned her here because I run Dig Through Time. Card is fantastic in this deck. Overall, I like the way your list looks.
Also, I think Ajani, Mentor of Heroes should be strongly considered for this deck. This deck runs enough targets and combined with Dig can help you find the cards you need. Also, in top deck mode a bird or noble can become threats and not to mention pumping Geist.
i honestly feel this is a better direction for the deck than slamming creatures down. i think that the creature bant is a very good deck but gets outclassed by other decks. thats just my opinion from running GW aggro/GWu aggro in modern for the last year. it's tough to find that spot you really need. i think this is going to be a good starting point for me. for some reason, i've been enjoying control with my UW EDH deck. splashing green feels good.
beast within is a great option for destroying anything. we have answers for the 3/3 that gets left behind as well in bant charm, psionic blast and even wraths.
i feel the win conditions are gideon and white sun's zenith. both of those just get there.
as for the sideboard, bribery is a pet card for me but i really think it fits in this deck. you don't always want it against some decks but against others, like mono green devotion and tron, you want to steal their biggest dude. nothing like having your own emrakul..
@Mirrislegend: Like you, I run Elspeth as well. T1 dork, T2 Geist, T3 Elspeth is basically game. Geist and Elspeth present a very fast clock. I used to run a very very similar list to yours.As far as your flex spots go I would run four Geists. Knight of the Reliquary is my favorite card and I love her in my Abzan deck but I abandoned her here because I run Dig Through Time. Card is fantastic in this deck. Overall, I like the way your list looks.
Also, I think Ajani, Mentor of Heroes should be strongly considered for this deck. This deck runs enough targets and combined with Dig can help you find the cards you need. Also, in top deck mode a bird or noble can become threats and not to mention pumping Geist.
I've heard from many sources that Dig Through Time is severely underrated. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes fills the same role as Dig Through Time (card selection and card advantage) along with the ability to increase pressure. And Ajani doesn't require weakening some of the strongest cards that we play (Knight, Goyf, Ooze) the way that DTT does. Either way, a source of card advantage is a good idea. But what do we cut for it? I definitely don't want to cut threats. Maybe Sword of Fire and Ice? But SoFI is already card advantage, plus clock and removal!
Trying to figure out how to make these changes is leading me to wonder if Clique is good enough. Obviously it is weak against some of the biggest players in the format at the moment (UR Delver, Burn, Affinity). On the other hand, she is immensely powerful against almost all other decks.
i honestly feel this is a better direction for the deck than slamming creatures down. i think that the creature bant is a very good deck but gets outclassed by other decks. thats just my opinion from running GW aggro/GWu aggro in modern for the last year. it's tough to find that spot you really need. i think this is going to be a good starting point for me. for some reason, i've been enjoying control with my UW EDH deck. splashing green feels good.
beast within is a great option for destroying anything. we have answers for the 3/3 that gets left behind as well in bant charm, psionic blast and even wraths.
i feel the win conditions are gideon and white sun's zenith. both of those just get there.
as for the sideboard, bribery is a pet card for me but i really think it fits in this deck. you don't always want it against some decks but against others, like mono green devotion and tron, you want to steal their biggest dude. nothing like having your own emrakul..
This is a UW control deck, not bant. Splashing bant charm and 1x beast within does not make it bant lol. I don't really like the list personally, but this is the wrong thread for it.
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Burn RBG
Beat burn 2-1, lost to Zoo 0-2, beat BW tokens 2-0 and Seige rhino pod 2-0. Ended the night 3-1 worth a few packs.
Changing up the decklist.
-2 Birds, -2 Treasure cruise, -2 remand
+1 Gavony township (up to 2), +1 Venser, Shaper savant, + 2 Dig through time, +1 serum visions, +1 sword of war and peace
I beat a bunch of different decks, losing to a UR Delver deck and Scapeshift deck. In the Scapeshift match up when I watched the replay I incorrectly assumed I could control my opponent in game 3. If I would have just went the beat down route I would have won the game.
On turn 1 I had a Island, Stirring Wildwood, Loxodon Smiter and a Serum Visions in my hand. Serum Visions is a great card in this deck becasue of its ability to set up Courser of Kruphix and make sure I hit my land drops when I do not have the 2/4 in play. I played the island and Drew 1 and Scry'd 2. I should have played the Stirring Wildwood and got the Smiter into play sooner as the game progressed and I didn't have the right mana available. As a result I lost by 1 turn when I didn't have enough disruption when my opponent went off with Scaepshift.
Some of the card choices/Interactions: Prey Upon : On stalled boards, Pod match ups, or against creature heavy Zoo builds this card shines. With Goyf, Smiter, and Restoration Angel, when needed Prey Upon is usually a Lightning Bolt. Pretty good for a non red deck.
I have wanted to put 2 Shackles in my list. What prevents me from doing that? First the mana constraints to have 8+ islands like Duke and Yiwen in a Bant list is too painful. I wanted to limit myself to 4 shock lands while still maximizing the number of fetches to turn Delve on. As a result, I only have 1 in the list. Make no doubt it is an all star in this deck.
Flooded Grove : My first iterations of this deck had Noble Heirarch which in this Meta are atrocious, thanks Lightning Bolt, Fork Bolt, Gut Shot and friends. Now that I play Serum Visions instead of the Nobles I can increase the number of Groves to 2. Easily the MVP land of the deck.
Courser of Kruphix : I haven't kept count of this stat but I will in the future; I am pretty sure I didn't lose a game when Courser was out and gave me an extra land drop/card. There is obviously diminishing returns with more than one of the card in play as it doesn't end the game for you but gets you to the cards that will end the game for you.
Restoration Angel : 4 toughness flyer whose's ETB ability has some corner useful cases. First, you can blink to save one of your creatures. Second, you can blink a creature under command of Vedalken Shackles and keep it forever. Third, it can be used at the end of your opponent's turn as a white fireball. Fourth, you can reset Snapcaster Mage, usually looking to replay another 1 mana spell from your graveyard because of the mana needs of Resto. UWGGWU
Why is Bant good right now?
With the increase in Delver and especially the fact that a good majority of the decks are running Lightning Bolt Bant's creature suite is perfect. Every creature card in this maindeck trades beyond a 1:1 for Bolt. This is important as I have chosen not to attack the graveyards in this deck, because of my reliance on it as well. Therefore, a Treasure Cruise is worth about 2/3 of a Tarmogoyf. Over the course of a game I can out card advantage the UR decks with the 4+ toughness creatures, Courser drawing extra cards, Snapcaster doing its thing and Cryptic Command drawing cards. Against the other midrange decks Dig Through Time and Vedalken Shackles are additional sources of CA.
Another reason to play Bant is Path to Exile and Bant Charm. Some of the reaction to the UR Delver metagme shift is to increase the size of the toughness of your creature suite, much like I am doing. This makes Path to Exile a more efficient piece of removal. Yes, Path to Exile is less flexible than Lightning Bolt because it can't go to the face of your opponent, but not having to adjust your game plan to counter certain creatures when all you play with is Bolt is very powerful.
The third reason to play Bant right now is the shift in the metagame that could be coming from the MTG World Championships. The meta there, although inbred because the pros try to guess what each other will be playing, had a lot of Storm and Ascendancy. In game 1 there are very few dead cards against either of these decks. After side boarding we can become a pretty ruthless control/flash deck. The only choices are when to put down the shields to play a 3 drop such as Smiter or Courser. And hey, that's why you play Magic.
So I've been playing esper since the Onslaught fetchland reprint was spoiled. One thing I and others have noticed as a common issue with Esper is the lack of a good CMC 3 counterspell to fit in with the shell, and while cryptic is good, it doesn't quite bridge the gap every time. So, I did some digging: voidslime and Bant Charm Seem to be excellent solutions for the CMC 3 countermagic slot while having utility in other matchups. With that in mind, What thoughts can any of you guys offer me on re-tooling the Esper shell for a very similar bant shell? Obviously, a fairly straight up mana base fix is easy to do, but I'm in need of replacing the functionality of the four esper charm and the Black Sun's Zenith, while also fixing the problems in the combo matchups that get solved easily by Surgical Extraction(though that's still viable to run regardless), and Duress. Voidslime and Bant Charm likely replace some number of the remands/logic knots, and obviously krosan grip out of the board does a fine job replacing the lost enchantment destruction capability off of Esper Charm, but I'm not sure how to re-tool to cover the missing discard ability on esper charm, as that is quite important (and the discard in general) against combo matchups.
Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Bant might not be the colour combination you are looking for as green over black means you are best off playing a more creature centric game. Green does not really have discard options, so I wonder if the Voidslime is worth the trouble (maybe just splash a single green mana into your base to play a couple?).
The only way to increase the hand disruption available to bant is going to be Vendilion clique.
In short, I think a green splash would be best if you want to use the 3 cmc counterspells. But I have to wonder why you want them as mana leak will counter just as well on curve, which is when you want to be playing it over cryptic.
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I agree green means a more creature centric game, but hand disruption isn't the only way to fight combo. The only real use for the black splash in esper (short of the esper charm draw effect) has been the sideboarded discard effects and the black sun's zenith in the main. If green gets me a reasonable alternative to discard in combo matchups (Teeg seems pretty sweet there) I feel like the hard countermagic is worth the shift to green over black.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Not sure what makes Reality shift better than pongify - and pongify has never seen modern play as far as I know. The drawback isn't negligible. Valorous stance is probably what you want to be running in that spot
I'm playing a Hatebears style bant deck that is doing really well.
I think the shell you see there is a more controlling shell, which is better for a red splash imo. With respect to the shell,green is going to offer ramping into aggressive board presence and red will offer better reach, control and sideboard. For that style of deck, red is probably better. I would definitely be more comfortable. That being said, that deck looks like it's built specifically to counter burn, and wouldnt suggest running so much burn hate MD at any paper event.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
i had a discussion with a friend. he helped me tune this:
2x Breeding Pool
2x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
1x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Plains
1x Temple Garden
2x Windswept Heath
2x Bant Charm
1x Dig Through Time
4x Mana Leak
1x Negate
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
2x Vapor Snag
Sorcery (3)
3x Treasure Cruise
Creature (16)
1x Baneslayer Angel
2x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Noble Hierarch
2x Restoration Angel
3x Rhox War Monk
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Snapcaster Mage
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
I've tried a ton of builds with bant, and it seems to be at its strongest when built more as a tempo deck then midrange. We are quite different from Jund or Abzan because black offers proactivity (hand disruption instead of counterspells, bob instead of cruise/dig) whereas blue offers reactivity. These considerations are important - we're more similar to say delver than Jund in that we want to land a threat early and protect it. Our form of protection is in resiliency. Loxodon smiter can't be stopped by hand disruption and counterspells, and geist of saint traft can't be stopped by removal. These two threats make a great tag team against many of the top decks in the format. A tight decklist seems well positioned.
I don't like Rhox war monk because it seems easier to remove than the above 3-drops, and after trying finks with geist and smiter, I realized that having too many 3 drops really slows the deck down instead of helping it.
One guy I don't see others trying is Venser, Shaper Savant. This guy can be a real blowout and problem solver. I'd encourage others to give him a try... remember he isn't countering spells and therefore can return even uncounterable spells to their owners hand, which is relevant more often than you think (abrupt decay, counterflux).
Edit: Also he allows amazingly oppressive sequences.
Turn 1 noble hierarch
Turn 2 loxodon smiter or geist
turn 3 having 4 mana up on their turn is hard to play around, and you can just bounce their land EoT if they do nothing.
turn 4 restoration angel to protect threats or bounce a land again.
A few turns swinging with smither or geist is enough, and venser and restoration angel protect your board really well with the help of cheap countermagic.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
It's a great card missing a shell.
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Path to Exile
4 Vapor Snag
23 Land:
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Treetop Village
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Choke
3 Torpor Orb
3 Kor Firewalker
3 Stony Silence
3 Aven Mindcensor
I consider the Geist of Saint Trafts, Vendilion Cliques, and Knight of the Reliquarys to be the flex slots. Other options for those slots include Mirran Crusader (super Lightning Bolt target, but it'd be nice to blow out Rock, Jund, Junk, and Pod), Loxodon Smiter (a favorite metagame card), and Rhox War Monk (probably very noteworthy with all the burn based decks running around these days).
Thoughts on the flex slots? Other changes you would make?
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
@Mirrislegend: Like you, I run Elspeth as well. T1 dork, T2 Geist, T3 Elspeth is basically game. Geist and Elspeth present a very fast clock. I used to run a very very similar list to yours.As far as your flex spots go I would run four Geists. Knight of the Reliquary is my favorite card and I love her in my Abzan deck but I abandoned her here because I run Dig Through Time. Card is fantastic in this deck. Overall, I like the way your list looks.
Also, I think Ajani, Mentor of Heroes should be strongly considered for this deck. This deck runs enough targets and combined with Dig can help you find the cards you need. Also, in top deck mode a bird or noble can become threats and not to mention pumping Geist.
4x Bant Charm
1x Beast Within
4x Cryptic Command
1x Dig Through Time
3x Mana Leak
1x Negate
4x Path to Exile
1x Psionic Blast
1x Shadow of Doubt
2x Sphinx's Revelation
4x Think Twice
1x White Sun's Zenith
Creature (2)
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Breeding Pool
4x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
1x Forest
2x Glacial Fortress
3x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Plains
Sorcery (3)
2x Supreme Verdict
1x Wrath of God
Planeswalker (1)
1x Gideon Jura
Artifact (2)
2x Vedalken Shackles
1x Bribery
1x Celestial Purge
1x Detention Sphere
3x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Negate
1x Sower of Temptation
2x Stony Silence
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Unravel the Aether
1x Wrath of God
i honestly feel this is a better direction for the deck than slamming creatures down. i think that the creature bant is a very good deck but gets outclassed by other decks. thats just my opinion from running GW aggro/GWu aggro in modern for the last year. it's tough to find that spot you really need. i think this is going to be a good starting point for me. for some reason, i've been enjoying control with my UW EDH deck. splashing green feels good.
beast within is a great option for destroying anything. we have answers for the 3/3 that gets left behind as well in bant charm, psionic blast and even wraths.
i feel the win conditions are gideon and white sun's zenith. both of those just get there.
as for the sideboard, bribery is a pet card for me but i really think it fits in this deck. you don't always want it against some decks but against others, like mono green devotion and tron, you want to steal their biggest dude. nothing like having your own emrakul..
I've heard from many sources that Dig Through Time is severely underrated. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes fills the same role as Dig Through Time (card selection and card advantage) along with the ability to increase pressure. And Ajani doesn't require weakening some of the strongest cards that we play (Knight, Goyf, Ooze) the way that DTT does. Either way, a source of card advantage is a good idea. But what do we cut for it? I definitely don't want to cut threats. Maybe Sword of Fire and Ice? But SoFI is already card advantage, plus clock and removal!
Trying to figure out how to make these changes is leading me to wonder if Clique is good enough. Obviously it is weak against some of the biggest players in the format at the moment (UR Delver, Burn, Affinity). On the other hand, she is immensely powerful against almost all other decks.
Legacy: Strawberry Shortcake, Aggro Loam, DnT+b
Modern: Devoted Karn
Vintage: Survival
This is a UW control deck, not bant. Splashing bant charm and 1x beast within does not make it bant lol. I don't really like the list personally, but this is the wrong thread for it.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Played Bant at modern night last night
4 Birds of paradise
3 Qasali pridemage
3 Scavenging ooze
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Loxodon smiter
2 Restoration angel
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
3 Serum Visions
2 Spell pierce
2 Spell snare
2 Remand
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Treasure Cruise
20 land
3 Meddling mage
2 Creeping Corrosion
2 Negate
2 Loxodon Hierarch
2 Spellskite
1 Qasali pridemage
1 Bant charm
2 Rest in peace
Beat burn 2-1, lost to Zoo 0-2, beat BW tokens 2-0 and Seige rhino pod 2-0. Ended the night 3-1 worth a few packs.
Changing up the decklist.
-2 Birds, -2 Treasure cruise, -2 remand
+1 Gavony township (up to 2), +1 Venser, Shaper savant, + 2 Dig through time, +1 serum visions, +1 sword of war and peace
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Here is the list that I 3-1'd on 2 different MTGO Modern Dailies this Week.
4 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Grove
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Forest
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Plains
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Windswept Heath
4 Serum Visions
3 Mana Leak
2 Cryptic Command
2 Dig Through Time
2 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Bant Charm
1 Prey Upon
1 Spell Pierce
1 Vapor Snag
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Restoration Angel
1 Vedalken Shackles
Sideboard
1 Bribery
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Nature's Claim
1 Negate
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Rest for the Weary
1 Stony Silence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Unravel the Æther
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Wipe Away
I beat a bunch of different decks, losing to a UR Delver deck and Scapeshift deck. In the Scapeshift match up when I watched the replay I incorrectly assumed I could control my opponent in game 3. If I would have just went the beat down route I would have won the game.
Some of the card choices/Interactions:
Prey Upon : On stalled boards, Pod match ups, or against creature heavy Zoo builds this card shines. With Goyf, Smiter, and Restoration Angel, when needed Prey Upon is usually a Lightning Bolt. Pretty good for a non red deck.
Vedalken Shackles : Since watching Reid Duke's "Next Level Blue" Deck
Flooded Grove : My first iterations of this deck had Noble Heirarch which in this Meta are atrocious, thanks Lightning Bolt, Fork Bolt, Gut Shot and friends. Now that I play Serum Visions instead of the Nobles I can increase the number of Groves to 2. Easily the MVP land of the deck.
Courser of Kruphix : I haven't kept count of this stat but I will in the future; I am pretty sure I didn't lose a game when Courser was out and gave me an extra land drop/card. There is obviously diminishing returns with more than one of the card in play as it doesn't end the game for you but gets you to the cards that will end the game for you.
Restoration Angel : 4 toughness flyer whose's ETB ability has some corner useful cases. First, you can blink to save one of your creatures. Second, you can blink a creature under command of Vedalken Shackles and keep it forever. Third, it can be used at the end of your opponent's turn as a white fireball. Fourth, you can reset Snapcaster Mage, usually looking to replay another 1 mana spell from your graveyard because of the mana needs of Resto.
UWGGWU
Why is Bant good right now?
With the increase in Delver and especially the fact that a good majority of the decks are running Lightning Bolt Bant's creature suite is perfect. Every creature card in this maindeck trades beyond a 1:1 for Bolt. This is important as I have chosen not to attack the graveyards in this deck, because of my reliance on it as well. Therefore, a Treasure Cruise is worth about 2/3 of a Tarmogoyf. Over the course of a game I can out card advantage the UR decks with the 4+ toughness creatures, Courser drawing extra cards, Snapcaster doing its thing and Cryptic Command drawing cards. Against the other midrange decks Dig Through Time and Vedalken Shackles are additional sources of CA.
Another reason to play Bant is Path to Exile and Bant Charm. Some of the reaction to the UR Delver metagme shift is to increase the size of the toughness of your creature suite, much like I am doing. This makes Path to Exile a more efficient piece of removal. Yes, Path to Exile is less flexible than Lightning Bolt because it can't go to the face of your opponent, but not having to adjust your game plan to counter certain creatures when all you play with is Bolt is very powerful.
The third reason to play Bant right now is the shift in the metagame that could be coming from the MTG World Championships. The meta there, although inbred because the pros try to guess what each other will be playing, had a lot of Storm and Ascendancy. In game 1 there are very few dead cards against either of these decks. After side boarding we can become a pretty ruthless control/flash deck. The only choices are when to put down the shields to play a 3 drop such as Smiter or Courser. And hey, that's why you play Magic.
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Polluted Delta
3 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Mystic Gate
1 Sunken Ruins
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
Card Draw:
4 Esper Charm
4 Think Twice
2 Sphinx's Revelation
Permission:
4 Cryptic Command
4 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
2 Remand
Removal:
4 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Black Sun's Zenith
Random:
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Batterskull
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Stony Silence
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
3 Duress
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Dispel
1 Wrath of God
1 Leyline of Sanctity
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
The only way to increase the hand disruption available to bant is going to be Vendilion clique.
In short, I think a green splash would be best if you want to use the 3 cmc counterspells. But I have to wonder why you want them as mana leak will counter just as well on curve, which is when you want to be playing it over cryptic.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
1 Thragtusk
1 Eternal Witness
1 Snapcaster Mage
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Scavenging Ooze (2 more in SB)
2 Restoration Angel
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Loxodon Smiter
1 Thrun the Last Troll
1 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Path to Exile
3 Mana Leak
3 Remand
2 Gifts Ungiven
1 Life from the Loam
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Dig Through Time
1 Batterskull
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
3 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
2 Gavony Township
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Treetop Village
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Tectonic Edge
This is just the main, will post sideboard in a few hours when I wake up.
Workin on getting Goyfs currently, I will likely be able to borrow them for any event comin up should I take this over a Pod deck.
U Tron
GW Bogles
RG Loam
UR Blue Breach
RBU Grixis Goryo
BRU Grixis Delver
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
Active Legacy Decks
BR Reanimator
I'm toying around a new build which is more tempo-ish. This has slightly more "control" elements
2x Breeding Pool
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
2x Stirring Wildwood
2x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
Instant (17)
1x Congregation at Dawn
3x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
2x Reality Shift
4x Remand
3x Vapor Snag
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Voice of Resurgence
Planeswalker (3)
1x Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sorcery (4)
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Aven Mindcensor
4x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Qasali Pridemage
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
Alternatively, the slightly more traditional build:
2x Breeding Pool
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Forest
4x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
2x Stirring Wildwood
2x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
Creature (23)
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Scavenging Ooze
3x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Voice of Resurgence
1x Congregation at Dawn
3x Path to Exile
1x Reality Shift
3x Remand
2x Simic Charm
2x Vapor Snag
2x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3x Aven Mindcensor
4x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Meddling Mage
1x Qasali Pridemage
2x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
I think if I were to build back Bant, I'll be going for either of the 2 builds. Which you think is better?
RIP: GWU Midrange (2012-2013) | GWR Ally (2014-2016)
I'm playing a Hatebears style bant deck that is doing really well.
3 Judge's Familiar
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Scavenging ooze
3 Qasali Pridemage
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Loxodon smiter
3 Aven Mindcensor
2 Restoration Angel
2 Mystic Snake
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Path to Exile
4 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Gavony Township
3 Meddling mage
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Spellskite
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 scavenging ooze
1 ghost quarter
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG