Entry #5 - Other People's Decks, pt. 1: You Bantstard!

Bant. The mystical combination of green, white, and blue introduced in Shards of Alara.

Bant has pretty much always been an extremely solid combination of colors. They compliment each other well. White performs much of the same functions as red in RUG, except instead of Lightning Bolt you have Path to Exile, which is a much better removal spell. In addition, you are afforded two of the best combat creatures ever printed Knight of the Reliquary and Geist of Saint Traft. The Knight, a personal favorite of mine, was first printed in Conflux, the second set of the Shards block. Geist appeared a few years later in Innistrad, the introductory set of the block named after it. Geist is essentially the card that made Bant the extremely powerful deck it is today. Don't get me wrong, it was good before, but with the introduction of Geist it was afforded a massive threat density. With full compliments of both, Birds, and Hierarch, throwing a massively dangerous threat at your opponent on turn two is almost a sure thing.

So why not begin my Other People's Decks series (which is just an excuse to not play my own stupid decks anymore) with Bant?

First, we choose a list. I decided to happily steal the crap out of the list currently employed by Raalic, a regular of the Modern forum and of the Geist of Saint Bant thread in which this deck is currently being discussed. Here it is:


Modern Bant "GeistBlade", current build 1/24/12Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Rafiq of the Many
1 Thrun, the Last Troll

2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Mana Leak
3 Spell Pierce
4 Path to Exile
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow

2 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
2 Breeding Pool
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Celestial Colonnade
2 Moorland Haunt

Sideboard
2 Wilt-leaf Liege
1 Obstinate Baloth
3 Great Sable Stag
3 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Surgical Extraction



I like the way it looks, personally. You'll notice Tarmogoyf is missing, which is just fine. It may seem like it would be good here (it looks good almost anywhere, to be perfectly honest) but the card types in this deck aren't as diverse as it may seem at first glance. This is first and foremost a creature deck and as such it's mostly creatures. 21 creatures compared to 16 non-creature, you'll notice. Among those non-creatures is instant, artifact, and Planeswalker. With few Elspeth and Swords, you'll mostly likely see one or the other over the course of the game, and you'll of course try to keep the one you do find in play. Moreover, Bant wants to skip it's two-drop, pass Go, and collect two hundred dollars. A hand with Hierarch, Knight, and Tarmogoyf seems so very awkward to me. What do I do with the Goyf? It might be a 2/3 at most at this point. Play it after the Knight? I should be playing Elspeth, a Sword, or Rafiq then. After those guys? I should be protecting my board and trying to win then. Goyf doesn't really do much for me.

Obviously, Tarmogoyf doesn't hurt the deck, but don't think you can't play Bant just because you don't have any.

I don't see anything else particularly notable about the deck from here. It looks great so I don't feel the need to even consider changes. The absence of Snapcaster is troubling, but it's not like this deck can really capitalize on it. Although I would like at least a couple, perhaps with a single Rewind as well. But that's just me. I plan on playing the list as is, regardless.

So time to load up Cockatrice. Who will be out first victim?

It will be a man by the username of Rocko510, and his deck is a four-color Delver build that just makes me groan and lay my cheek in my hand. It's not bad, but it's also ridiculous. I'll never understand why he felt the need to add green and white to UB Delver for Knight of the Reliquary and Maelstrom Pulse. At any rate, game one is off to the races.

My opener is Boidz, Misty, Path, Clique, Island, Pridemage, and Geist. I play Misty and completely forget to crack it for a Forest to play my Birds. We're off to a great start.

Rocko leads with Verdant into Watery Grave into Delver of Secrets. I play my Birds, feeling like a complete and utter dumbass, and pass.

He reveals KOTR off the top (Not only am I confused as to why I just saw Knight of the Reliquary, but I'm also confused as to why he revealed it to me. Last I checked, you didn't have to reveal the card if it wouldn't transform your Delver. Oh well. Free info.) He pops an Inquisition to take my Geist.

I play a Forest and drop Qasali Pridemage. With Geist gone, I can't use one to bait response to clear the way for the other. Moreover, him taking Geist gave me the inkling that he had removal in hand. Better play it safe.

He flips Maelstrom Pulse and it's Brundlefly time. I try to Path the thing (Not actually believing it would succeed). and it is Leaked. This leaves him almost tapped out.

I topdeck another Knight. Hit for three with Qasali and then drop my Knight. Because I have a second in hand I feel okay with dropping the first. Any responses from him would be wasted because I have the second to drop right behind it.

He simply attacks with Delver and lays a Creeping Tar Pit. I draw a Fountain, play it tapped, and attack with the Knight. It's presently a 3/3, hitting for four with Exalted. The race is close.

I try to Clique him, but it's Leaked. He attacks for three again and lays his own Knight. It's a 4/4, matching my Knight when Exalted. I plan on simply trading Knights and then laying my second but all of that changes when I topdeck a Horizon Canopy.

This of course allows me to simply ram my Knight into his and then sacrifice the Canopy, allowing my now 5/5 Knight to survive. But I lost a turn and Delver is going to pull ahead. I drew a Noble off of the Canopy. I play it and pass.

He attacks, Pulses my Knight. I draw Sword of Light and Shadow. I cast it, equip it to Qasali Pridemage, and attack. He flashes in Snapcaster Mage to block. He attacks me down to three with his Tar Pit (as I blocked the Delver with Birds). I try to attack again, but he Snapblocks me again. I concede and he.. leaves.

I can't begin to describe how much it bugs me when people do this. I head into the next match a very unhappy camper.

Next guy is by the username of Malcolm and he is playing Mono-Black Vampires.

I open with Birds, Canopy, Island, Geist, Rafiq, Knight, and Spell Pierce. Malcolm wins the roll and leads with a Swamp. Canopy, Birds. Marsh Flats, Swamp, Hexmage. I play Geist of Saint Traft and pass. Malcolm takes out my Birds with Go for the Throat (although I'm not sure why, the damage was done) and attacks.

I draw a land, play it, attack, and lay Qasali Pridemage. He lays Gatekeeper of Malakir, forcing me to sacrifice the Pridemage. I draw another land, play it, and drop Rafiq. I attack for approximately one million damage and pass, which affords me another effing Gatekeeper. I lose Rafiq. I topdeck a Noble Hierarch and play it. Attacking with Geist leads to a double block, which kills one of the Gatekeepers. On his turn he attacks with the other and passes. I drop Knight of the Reliquary which leads to a concession. I side out Qasali Pridemage for Great Sable Stag. Because why not.

My opener is Geist, Knight, Plains, Catacombs, Rafiq, Colonnade, Canopy. It's a slow hand, but also a solid one. I'll have to slow roll it but I'll get there, I'm sure of it. Of course, his opening play is Vampire Lacerator, and I feel like I may not have the time I need. Thankfully, he's stuck on one land for the first few turns, allowing me to lay Colonnade, Verdant, and Plains while he plays two Guul Draz Assassin. I play my Geist while he finds a second land. He attacks with just the Lacerator before laying Vampire Hexmage.

I reply with Rafiq of the Many and attack for approximately one million damage. On his turn, he promptly kills Rafiq with Go For the Throat and attacks. I, prompt as well, lay the second Rafiq I'd topdecked not too long ago and attack him down to just one life. I pass the turn, and wait.

Malcolm is silent for a while. He plays Vampire Nighthawk and passes. I see my play here very quickly. He's at one. He has no choice but to chump block the token with Nighthawk and Geist with something else. I'll effectively two-for-one him and be in a very safe boardstate. I attack and events transpire just as I predicted they would. I pass, and then drop Vendilion Clique[/CARD] on his draw step for the concession. GGs all around.

Next I play Rudo, whom is piloting Affinity. I do not like Affinity.

Our games go like this: I mulligan to six, he plays Blinkmoth, Mox Opal, Ornithopter, Signal Pest, and Skirge. I play Birds. Rudo burns my Birds with Galvanic Blast and attacks for approximately infinite damage. Wonderful. I side out three Birds for Kataki. Game two, I pick up Pool, Forest, Geist, Kataki, Kataki, Knight, Knight. I idly wonder if Raalic posted a bogus list to screw with people who like to netdeck other MTGS users.

Three turns pass, I find white mana, and play Kataki. Rudo concedes. Game three is exactly the same as game one. Have I mentioned that I hate Affinity? Oh well. Green and white aggro decks always struggle against Affinity. They're just too damn slow.

At any rate, Bant is not my thing, I think. I don't think it's the deck. It feels perfectly functional, and acceptably consistent. I probably just can't play the damn thing right. Although, personally, if I were to play Bant, I would play a very similar list, except with no Swords, Snapcaster Mage, one more Elspeth, and one more Rafiq. I don't think I'd maindeck Thrun either, but I'm sure he has very good reason for that. I also think I would find room in the sideboard for Celestial Purge and Kitchen Finks or Timely Reinforcements. Perhaps Condemn as well, as cheap spot removal is the key to beating Delver. Spell Snare also has some use against top tier strategies, although I dislike the card personally.

So there's a few games with Bant. Stay tuned for more Other People's Decks. Also look out for some info on GW Jumanji!
6
Hamlet Captain's avatar
Hamlet Captain

Comments

  • To post a comment, please or register a new account.
Posts Quoted:
Reply
Clear All Quotes