Introduction
Bant Company is an aggro-control deck. It employs a curve of disruptive (ex: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Aven Mindcensor) and efficiently costed (ex: Geist of Saint Traft and Loxodon Smiter) threats. Without reach or a game-winnning combination, the deck relies on winning on the board.
Featuring mana acceleration in Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise, the deck will curve out with efficient threats and then start casting Collected Company to achieve a wide attack and swing through opposing ground forces.
Bant Company is both aggressive and resilient. It is also well suited to adaptation to known metas, where specific disruptive elements might be marginalized in favour of others.
Threats
Most of the deck consists of threats. Collected Company rewards high creature counts, and we have many good ones to choose from and adapt to an expected meta. A wider variation can be used in unknown metas. In order to maximize collected company, this deck should run 26-30 creatures.
Judge's Familiar: Places increased pressure on mana from more spell oriented decks. Surprise factor when hit off collected company in response to an opponent tapping out. Dryad Militant: Fairly narrow option for more graveyard centric metas such as those featuring grixis delver etc. Turns off snapcaster mage and eternal witness, so don't include those if you want disruptive Savannah lions Burrenton Forge-tender: Protection against red sweepers such as pyroclasm. A good sideboard option against both red control and red aggro decks. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: At first glance this card hurts the deck's ability to cast Collected Company. However, by minimizing the non-creature spells the deck plays, both Collected Company and Thalia improve. While the cards do not have synergy directly, they both reward the same deck building. Scavenging Ooze: Great against Kitchen Finks, Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf, Delve, Flashback, and other creature decks. This should be considered the premiere graveyard disruption card available to us. Voice of Resurgence: Offers both resilience to removal and disruption to counterspell decks. In most matchups, voice will outperform goyf. Qasali Pridemage: Proactive artifact and enchantment answer. Plays well against Twin and is recommended to have some number main deck. Meddling Mage: Whether naming twin to force a removal and buy an extra turn, or simply turning off Ad nauseam or Primeval Titan, this card can be back-breaking out of the sideboard. Without a reliable way of looking at hands, it seems relegated to sideboard. Kataki, War's Wage: Hates affinity. Simple and effective. Spellskite: One of the best disrupive 2-drops available. However, it's 0 power is not what we want to be playing unless it can win the game on its own. As such, it makes an excellent and flexible sideboard card. Kor Firewalker: Anti-burn card. Not usually necessary unless you know burn is a major factor in the metagame. Aven Mindcensor: Evasive threat that can be often give a free stone rain. Fetchlands make this card better: as a meta increases its density of Fetchlands, Aven Mindcensor will be cast with a free stone rain more often. At worst, you can flash it in eot and start the beats. Vendilion Clique: Evasive threat that can disrupt combo and control oriented decks. Suited for metagames without as much fast aggro. This card will increase in value as aggro decks like Burn becomes less prevalent. Flickerwisp: Pros like Kibler choose this card over aven mindcensor for the maindeck.
Geist of Saint Traft: 6 power for 3 mana is amazing - and hexproof! This card can often push damage through blockers when it has to, and if left unchecked is a 3 turn clock. Works well with Dromoka's command (angel beats up Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Siege Rhino) and Gavony township. Loxodon Smiter: 4 power for 3 mana is above the curve, no doubt. However, the reason to play this card right now is that it is resilient to two of moderns top dogs in BGx and Twin. Jam him all day every day. Knight of the Reliquary: This card is often efficient at 4/4 for 3. However, manabase consideration are required to fully power her up, and her ability is a little slow. Without the same kind of efficacy against twin and BGx, right now she is not as good as smiter. That said, it card can be significantly stronger if the game goes late. Tarmogoyf: This deck is not great spot for him - without a wide assortment of cardtypes we can't grow him fast, and we want to disrupt opponents off playing the spells that might grow him. Usually worse than voice of resurgence overall. Brimaz, King of Oreskos Normally at least 4 power for 3, so fairly efficient. Likely slightly faster and wider than Knight of the Reliquary, this has better synergy with Gavony Township as well. Likely not going to get many slots as we have a ton of options. Blade Splicer4 Power for 3 is efficient, and she can use blink effects if you have any. Seems like more work than its worth for 3/3s, although Gavony Township once again offers synergy with multiple bodies.
Noble Hierarch: Powering out our already ahead-of-the-curve creatures a turn early. Exalted works with geist to great effect. Birds of Paradise: Noble 5-8 if you want to run more acceleration instead of 1-drop disruption. Flying can also make a difference to push through those last few points. Phantasmal Image: Doubling your most useful threat or an opponent's larger threat can alter the board dramatically. Seems win more though, as you need good creatures in play to make this guy shine. Rhox War Monk: Efficient body that offers protection from aggro decks in the format. Without any blink mechanics in the deck, Rhox War Monk will often outshine Kitchen Finks. This is because lifelink is a repeatable source of lifegain for the deck, and hitting one off collected company will normally yield more life than the finks. Kitchen Finks: Overshadowed here by Rhox War Monk since we are not abusing persist. Eternal Witness: Recycle the Collected Company you just cast, get that value creature back from the yard or reuse Path to Exile. Lackluster when hardcast early, you don't want to see this in your opening hand most of the time. Snapcaster Mage: We run few enough instants and sorceries that it won't hit much. Not strictly worse than Eternal Witness here, but often Witness will be the better card. Kira, Great glass-spinner: Protection from removal. With BGx around, Kira feels the heat from Abrupt Decay like everything else in this deck. More useful when BGx not a significant part of the Meta (as if that is gonna happen anytime soon).
Spells
When selecting spells to play in the deck, it is important to know that every creature less than 30 we have in the deck, the worse collected company will be. 8 spells are fairly mandatory, and adding extras is risky. Here are some spells to consider:
Collected Company: The most abstractly powerful spell we can be casting during any phase of the game. When built to maximize, you can hit 2 creatures in almost 90% of casts. Path to Exile: Quintessential white removal. One of the best rewards for playing white. The drawback, such as it is, is mitigated by Aven Mindcensor. Dromoka's Command: Acts as additional removal, and is quite strong in combination with smiter or geist. Also offers insulation from red removal and splinter twin. Valorous stance: Removal or protection, a flexible spell against the right opponent. Bant Charm: Flexible spell that can answer problems. Likely too expensive to be played in any number. Unified Will: The best option for a counterspell, likely relegated to sideboard for matchups where it is imperative to stop specific spells. Mana leak/Remand: We want to be playing creatures early when mana leak is at its best, pushing through resistence. Mana leak is not congruous with that plan. Vapor Snag: Solid tempo card. Can act as "path" 5-6 to keep our creatures swinging. Cryptic Command: Strains the manabase, does not seem to have synergy.
Manabase
We don't need many basics, one of each should be fine. This leaves some room for more useful lands.
Fetches
As in most cases, we want to run fetches for both fixing and thinning. However, we want to maintain positive matchups against aggro decks and running too many fetches can get costly in life. 8-10 fetches are appropriate, depending on exact configuration. Builds running a number of Knight of the Reliquary should opt for 10 or more fetches.
Note that Green and White requirements are higher than blue in this deck, and the manabase should reflect this.
In order of preference:
Utility Razorverge Thicket: Fastlands help get pain-free early threats. Eiganjo Castle: Helps Geist and Thalia stay alive through blockers or red sweepers. Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers: Similar to eiganjo, but both aggressive and defensive. Not as helpful against red sweepers. Stirring Wildwood: When you don't have a turn 1 dork, this is a good land. Otherwise, you don't want it until your 4th or 5th land, so use sparingly. Good gainst spirit tokens and sweepers. Treetop Village: Doesn't fix, so not quite as good as wildwood. Trample does give it situational upside, however. Celestial Colonnade: Similar to Wildwood, but more expensive to activate. Might be too expensive to active. Ghost Quarter: Usually strip mine when you have aven mindcensor, sometimes just kills that utility land that will crush when left unchecked. Problem solver, good in sideboard and useful main as well. Colourless does cause problems, so use sparingly. Gavony Township:Against most decks, the impact will be greater than ghost quarter.
Matchup Analysis
Rather than try and give a % favourite I'll describe the matchups (in order "best" to "worst") as Great, Good, Even, Bad, Terrible.
Burn:Great. This matchup is one that we can count on. Their best hands are tough for anyone, but we have enough answers - especially post-board when the matchup is a good target for hate. Excessively boarding can be a burden on other matchups, so keep the anti-burn hate to a minimum and focus on generally good cards like scooze and skite. UR Twin:Good. The focus of the game is on twin, so we just keep them off balance long enough to win. After the board, they may have the option of turning into decks like blue-moon and still threaten the combo, so watch out for blood moon and take queues from early fetches. If they stick on the twin plan post-board, the matchup gets better with more pridemage and spellskite. Abzan midrange:Good. We have good game here. Hold your smiters until you play the rest of your hand, and they might have a hard time crawling out from under the board position established early. This can get grindy, but we can shrink goyf and answer souls. Affinity:Bad. They are just faster and not particularly vulnerable to our maindeck disruption. Qasali pridemage maindeck can be key in removing a pivotal card like cranial plating. Some number of kataki, war's wage are a way of shoring up the matchup in the board. Infect:Good. We can remove or chump/trade through pumps. We can answer nexi after the board with more ghost quarter. The only danger here is on the draw, they can get in under the curve. Getting blown out by unblocked Become Immense is the most common way to lose here. Jund midrange:Good. Dark confidant is an allstar, and we aren't especially suited to answer him since we don't play lightning bolt. We can, however, still fight the card advantage battle with company so it's not bad. Furthermore, our creatures (if they can stay in play) are usually bigger. Again, hold smiter until your hand is empty. Post board this matchup stays about the same. Grixis Delver:Even. When delver transforms turn 2 and can't be denied, this can be rough. Lots of play in this match, and tasi and gurmag can be a pain until gavony gets online. This deck can get in under us at times, especially if they are on the play. After board you have to watch for blood moon, fun match with both players turning creatures sideways. RG Tron:Great. MD thalia and mindcensor slow them down long enough, and post-board meddling mage and more ghost quarters are pretty good trumps. Karn isn't a huge deal unless we have not established a board position. Amulet Bloom:Great. Path the titan, mindcensor the searching. Meddling mage from the board is kinda funny. Hivemind can randomly kill anyone though, but expect it to come out after game 1. Merfolk:Bad. Fishies tend to be about the same speed, but will often be unblockable. Don't worry about vial and trade creatures at every opportunity. After board, don't remove gavony for ghost quarter. Mutavault is annoying, sure, but we need a way to grow the army to keep up with lord production. Junk Company:Good. Their creatures are smaller and slower to accommodate a combo we can disrupt with scavenging ooze. Post-board this gets even better.
Cool combo but as the OP meant, this deck goes for value creatures and no combo. (And I have no idea how you'll get enough blue mana)
Outside of a CC combo, Tideforce is just an horrendous card. Just like everybody has dropped Spike Feeder in the Podless Pod, despite the infinite life eventuality.
You would need to **** up the mana base really good though. 4 Hallowed Fountains and 4 Breeding Pools and 8 fetches that would give Knight +16/+16 (while dealing yourself 24 in the process).
You would need to **** up the mana base really good though. 4 Hallowed Fountains and 4 Breeding Pools and 8 fetches that would give Knight +16/+16 (while dealing yourself 24 in the process).
But seriously, if you are trying to win with KotR then Courser isn't a bad idea. If you won't run Ghiest for a more aggro approach then why not try to clog up the board and smash through another way?
Cool deck idea, I run Maverick in legacy so I really enjoy playing with Knight of the Reliquary. That being said, do you have problems getting through? I wouldn't want to water down your creature count too much, but I think the deck would benefit from something, maybe Rancor, or a sword of X and Y, or even a Batterskull.
You would need to **** up the mana base really good though. 4 Hallowed Fountains and 4 Breeding Pools and 8 fetches that would give Knight +16/+16 (while dealing yourself 24 in the process).
But seriously, if you are trying to win with KotR then Courser isn't a bad idea. If you won't run Ghiest for a more aggro approach then why not try to clog up the board and smash through another way?
Do keep in mind that Rancor would have a hard time getting 2-for-1'ed, unless they kill your creature in response to you casting it. It just seems like weenie chump blockers would hurt this deck - your big dudes (KotR, Smiter) should have a way to connect to the dome.
Completely agree with your post and definitely going for Remand.
Brimaz is just a favorite card and will probably go for something like Reclamation Sage
Mana base was done quick, utility lands like Sejiri Steppe and Ghost will definitely come in.
I've also read about rancors and I'm not sure they would fit.. the noncreature slots are already tight, I wouldn't dilute the CC chances to put rancors in. But I admit we could need something to push.. in which case Brave the Elements seems quite better to me. Giving both protection and evasion, as all our beaters are white.
Storm_: I think that people suggested black because, unlike blue, it's a pro active color (like your deck). Outside of holding up CC, you'll probably be tapping out a lot. Back when Pod was legal I switched between Kiki and Melira Pod and while Kiki was the stronger combo, Melira got to play black which was a big deal. When I sided in thoughtseizes with Melira I had to side in Negates with Kiki which were awful, since I couldn't develop my board and hold up counters.
Black also offers better hate bears in Sin Collector + other goodies. Blue mostly offers Glen Elendra Archmage who are quite strong, but you can't grab her with CC.
You are only splashing blue for Remands, right? It just seems better to go with Thoughtseizes. Unless you go with a Flash style variant with Cliques, Restos etc.
If it works, it works. I've just had too many bad times juggling between holding up Negate and putting pressure on stuff like Tron and Scapeshift playing Kiki Pod. Stopping that Karn from resolving while curving out, is a nightmare.
Regarding tempo, yes Remand is usually a tempo play but not in a deck that want to cast stuff in the main phase. Holding up 2 mana and not spending them is virtual tempo loss. I also don't understand the argument about Remand stopping you from over-extending. You should build your deck in a way that gives you the most options, if you play around sweepers it should be because the situation calls for it and not because you're forced into it. Besides sweepers aren't something that is relevant to worry about in the majority of matchups. Plus again, Thoughtseize gives you perfect information on this regard.
Sin Collector is a sideboard card. You have Eidelon in those slots now which is good vs. Storm and Living End but not against stuff like Tron, Scapeshift, Twin, Control etc. I just think that black offers more than blue does. Decay is also hard to dismiss.
I agree, you're playing a different game if you're not running remands. And if you're not playing blue shenanigans, I really don't think that just Geists and RWM are worth splashing blue. (But I see your list being interesting in Naya shell with Nacatl and Bolts.)
This idea seems like it'd be so much better in Junk colors than in Bant.
Yep.
Why?
That I know, the pulls to junk are 1) discard 2) liliana 3) siege rhino, and we can't afford to run either of 1) or 2) as it screws up the CC maths, and siege rhino is cmc 4, so it can't be fetched with it either. The other great junk card is lingering souls, but that is a "creature spell" that can't be fetched with CC once again. You also lose the ability of noble hierarch to fix your mana perfectly, and might even have to switch to using birds of paradise, which is significantly weaker.
Because Bant is an uncompetitive color combination in modern, and Junk is quite competitive, on the other hand? giving up thoughtseize, Siege Rhino, etc. is not worth the cost of having Remand, a rather mediocre card.
Hmm just to say, if you make a rapid search on this forum you'll see many people saying that when it's played right it gives a near "Time Walk" feeling. It obviously isn't at that absurd power level, but it's still far away from being mediocre. Like some people would say Pathing a Wurmcoil is also similar to time walking: a card power can explode when played right.
It's also the 5th most played card in Modern on Mtgtop8, to define it mediocre I'd say you've never played it.
But anyway. There's no point in posting that Bant shouldn't be played because Junk is competitive. You're wasting your time and it doesn't help at all the deck discussion.
We're trying to build around CC which has no sinergies with Liliana Lingering or Rhino. And playing playsets of thoughtseize and abrupt decay would lower the creature count too much.
This idea seems like it'd be so much better in Junk colors than in Bant.
Yep.
Whether or not this is true, you can't just come into the BANT Company threads and argue about it. That would be like going into the UR Delver thread and telling them Grixis Delver is better, just go play that. It's one thing to talk about the color combinations as a means of strengthening the deck, e.g. identifying gaps in Bant that Junk doesn't have, and then looking for Bant-based solutions for those gaps. It's another entirely to say "just go play Junk". Future comments like that will just be treated as spamming or trolling, depending on their content.
If anyone has any questions about this, please ask me before posting something that might get you in hot water.
I think the deck is way too durdly to be considered a tempo deck, it plays the same creature suit as Junk midrange does. But if it's that's the direction you wanna go, I'd make some adjustments.
In a tempo shell you want to hit hard with your creatures when you connect or you want to play creatures with flash, so that you can hold counter mana open with profit. I'd play stuff like Goyf, Geist oST and Clique over Knight, Finks and Voice.
Going T1 mana dork into T2 Geist into untap and Remand whatever he's playing is a strong tempo play. If you do the same line with Knight it won't be the same 1-2 punch since he's probably gonna sit as a 3/3 and spend a turn or two on D, tapping and searching for a land. Again the same with Finks, not great alone with Remand back up but great supported by a bunch of other dudes. Again, if you play Finks, you want to tap out and swarm the board, since he's not a heavy hitter but a slow value dork.
EDIT: Though, I'm not sure if going the "resolve 1 or 2 threats and hold up counter mana" plan goes well with Company. Since one rewards you for playing a lot of creatures while the other rewards you for playing a lot of non-creature spells. I'm not sure whether Company is stronger than Cryptic in this kind of shell since the strategies has a tension between them.
Introduction
Bant Company is an aggro-control deck. It employs a curve of disruptive (ex: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Aven Mindcensor) and efficiently costed (ex: Geist of Saint Traft and Loxodon Smiter) threats. Without reach or a game-winnning combination, the deck relies on winning on the board.
Featuring mana acceleration in Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise, the deck will curve out with efficient threats and then start casting Collected Company to achieve a wide attack and swing through opposing ground forces.
Bant Company is both aggressive and resilient. It is also well suited to adaptation to known metas, where specific disruptive elements might be marginalized in favour of others.
Core
Threats
Most of the deck consists of threats. Collected Company rewards high creature counts, and we have many good ones to choose from and adapt to an expected meta. A wider variation can be used in unknown metas. In order to maximize collected company, this deck should run 26-30 creatures.
Judge's Familiar: Places increased pressure on mana from more spell oriented decks. Surprise factor when hit off collected company in response to an opponent tapping out.
Dryad Militant: Fairly narrow option for more graveyard centric metas such as those featuring grixis delver etc. Turns off snapcaster mage and eternal witness, so don't include those if you want disruptive Savannah lions
Burrenton Forge-tender: Protection against red sweepers such as pyroclasm. A good sideboard option against both red control and red aggro decks.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: At first glance this card hurts the deck's ability to cast Collected Company. However, by minimizing the non-creature spells the deck plays, both Collected Company and Thalia improve. While the cards do not have synergy directly, they both reward the same deck building.
Scavenging Ooze: Great against Kitchen Finks, Snapcaster Mage, Tarmogoyf, Delve, Flashback, and other creature decks. This should be considered the premiere graveyard disruption card available to us.
Voice of Resurgence: Offers both resilience to removal and disruption to counterspell decks. In most matchups, voice will outperform goyf.
Qasali Pridemage: Proactive artifact and enchantment answer. Plays well against Twin and is recommended to have some number main deck.
Meddling Mage: Whether naming twin to force a removal and buy an extra turn, or simply turning off Ad nauseam or Primeval Titan, this card can be back-breaking out of the sideboard. Without a reliable way of looking at hands, it seems relegated to sideboard.
Kataki, War's Wage: Hates affinity. Simple and effective.
Spellskite: One of the best disrupive 2-drops available. However, it's 0 power is not what we want to be playing unless it can win the game on its own. As such, it makes an excellent and flexible sideboard card.
Kor Firewalker: Anti-burn card. Not usually necessary unless you know burn is a major factor in the metagame.
Aven Mindcensor: Evasive threat that can be often give a free stone rain. Fetchlands make this card better: as a meta increases its density of Fetchlands, Aven Mindcensor will be cast with a free stone rain more often. At worst, you can flash it in eot and start the beats.
Vendilion Clique: Evasive threat that can disrupt combo and control oriented decks. Suited for metagames without as much fast aggro. This card will increase in value as aggro decks like Burn becomes less prevalent.
Flickerwisp: Pros like Kibler choose this card over aven mindcensor for the maindeck.
Geist of Saint Traft: 6 power for 3 mana is amazing - and hexproof! This card can often push damage through blockers when it has to, and if left unchecked is a 3 turn clock. Works well with Dromoka's command (angel beats up Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Siege Rhino) and Gavony township.
Loxodon Smiter: 4 power for 3 mana is above the curve, no doubt. However, the reason to play this card right now is that it is resilient to two of moderns top dogs in BGx and Twin. Jam him all day every day.
Knight of the Reliquary: This card is often efficient at 4/4 for 3. However, manabase consideration are required to fully power her up, and her ability is a little slow. Without the same kind of efficacy against twin and BGx, right now she is not as good as smiter. That said, it card can be significantly stronger if the game goes late.
Tarmogoyf: This deck is not great spot for him - without a wide assortment of cardtypes we can't grow him fast, and we want to disrupt opponents off playing the spells that might grow him. Usually worse than voice of resurgence overall.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos Normally at least 4 power for 3, so fairly efficient. Likely slightly faster and wider than Knight of the Reliquary, this has better synergy with Gavony Township as well. Likely not going to get many slots as we have a ton of options.
Blade Splicer4 Power for 3 is efficient, and she can use blink effects if you have any. Seems like more work than its worth for 3/3s, although Gavony Township once again offers synergy with multiple bodies.
Noble Hierarch: Powering out our already ahead-of-the-curve creatures a turn early. Exalted works with geist to great effect.
Birds of Paradise: Noble 5-8 if you want to run more acceleration instead of 1-drop disruption. Flying can also make a difference to push through those last few points.
Phantasmal Image: Doubling your most useful threat or an opponent's larger threat can alter the board dramatically. Seems win more though, as you need good creatures in play to make this guy shine.
Rhox War Monk: Efficient body that offers protection from aggro decks in the format. Without any blink mechanics in the deck, Rhox War Monk will often outshine Kitchen Finks. This is because lifelink is a repeatable source of lifegain for the deck, and hitting one off collected company will normally yield more life than the finks.
Kitchen Finks: Overshadowed here by Rhox War Monk since we are not abusing persist.
Eternal Witness: Recycle the Collected Company you just cast, get that value creature back from the yard or reuse Path to Exile. Lackluster when hardcast early, you don't want to see this in your opening hand most of the time.
Snapcaster Mage: We run few enough instants and sorceries that it won't hit much. Not strictly worse than Eternal Witness here, but often Witness will be the better card.
Kira, Great glass-spinner: Protection from removal. With BGx around, Kira feels the heat from Abrupt Decay like everything else in this deck. More useful when BGx not a significant part of the Meta (as if that is gonna happen anytime soon).
Spells
When selecting spells to play in the deck, it is important to know that every creature less than 30 we have in the deck, the worse collected company will be. 8 spells are fairly mandatory, and adding extras is risky. Here are some spells to consider:
Collected Company: The most abstractly powerful spell we can be casting during any phase of the game. When built to maximize, you can hit 2 creatures in almost 90% of casts.
Path to Exile: Quintessential white removal. One of the best rewards for playing white. The drawback, such as it is, is mitigated by Aven Mindcensor.
Dromoka's Command: Acts as additional removal, and is quite strong in combination with smiter or geist. Also offers insulation from red removal and splinter twin.
Valorous stance: Removal or protection, a flexible spell against the right opponent.
Bant Charm: Flexible spell that can answer problems. Likely too expensive to be played in any number.
Unified Will: The best option for a counterspell, likely relegated to sideboard for matchups where it is imperative to stop specific spells.
Mana leak/Remand: We want to be playing creatures early when mana leak is at its best, pushing through resistence. Mana leak is not congruous with that plan.
Vapor Snag: Solid tempo card. Can act as "path" 5-6 to keep our creatures swinging.
Cryptic Command: Strains the manabase, does not seem to have synergy.
Manabase
We don't need many basics, one of each should be fine. This leaves some room for more useful lands.
Fetches
As in most cases, we want to run fetches for both fixing and thinning. However, we want to maintain positive matchups against aggro decks and running too many fetches can get costly in life. 8-10 fetches are appropriate, depending on exact configuration. Builds running a number of Knight of the Reliquary should opt for 10 or more fetches.
Note that Green and White requirements are higher than blue in this deck, and the manabase should reflect this.
In order of preference:
- Windswept Heath
- Misty Rainforest
- Flooded Strand
ShocksWe really only need one of each shock, possibly more temple garden.
- Temple Garden
- Breeding Pool
- Hallowed Fountain
UtilityRazorverge Thicket: Fastlands help get pain-free early threats.
Eiganjo Castle: Helps Geist and Thalia stay alive through blockers or red sweepers.
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers: Similar to eiganjo, but both aggressive and defensive. Not as helpful against red sweepers.
Stirring Wildwood: When you don't have a turn 1 dork, this is a good land. Otherwise, you don't want it until your 4th or 5th land, so use sparingly. Good gainst spirit tokens and sweepers.
Treetop Village: Doesn't fix, so not quite as good as wildwood. Trample does give it situational upside, however.
Celestial Colonnade: Similar to Wildwood, but more expensive to activate. Might be too expensive to active.
Ghost Quarter: Usually strip mine when you have aven mindcensor, sometimes just kills that utility land that will crush when left unchecked. Problem solver, good in sideboard and useful main as well. Colourless does cause problems, so use sparingly.
Gavony Township:Against most decks, the impact will be greater than ghost quarter.
Sample Decklist
4 Collected Company
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Flickerwisp
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Eternal Witness
1 Restoration angel
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
3 Gavony township
4 Collected Company
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Aven Mindcensor
2 Rhox War Monk
1 Eternal Witness
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Gavony Township
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Spellskite
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
Matchup Analysis
Rather than try and give a % favourite I'll describe the matchups (in order "best" to "worst") as Great, Good, Even, Bad, Terrible.
Burn: Great. This matchup is one that we can count on. Their best hands are tough for anyone, but we have enough answers - especially post-board when the matchup is a good target for hate. Excessively boarding can be a burden on other matchups, so keep the anti-burn hate to a minimum and focus on generally good cards like scooze and skite.
UR Twin: Good. The focus of the game is on twin, so we just keep them off balance long enough to win. After the board, they may have the option of turning into decks like blue-moon and still threaten the combo, so watch out for blood moon and take queues from early fetches. If they stick on the twin plan post-board, the matchup gets better with more pridemage and spellskite.
Abzan midrange: Good. We have good game here. Hold your smiters until you play the rest of your hand, and they might have a hard time crawling out from under the board position established early. This can get grindy, but we can shrink goyf and answer souls.
Affinity: Bad. They are just faster and not particularly vulnerable to our maindeck disruption. Qasali pridemage maindeck can be key in removing a pivotal card like cranial plating. Some number of kataki, war's wage are a way of shoring up the matchup in the board.
Infect: Good. We can remove or chump/trade through pumps. We can answer nexi after the board with more ghost quarter. The only danger here is on the draw, they can get in under the curve. Getting blown out by unblocked Become Immense is the most common way to lose here.
Jund midrange: Good. Dark confidant is an allstar, and we aren't especially suited to answer him since we don't play lightning bolt. We can, however, still fight the card advantage battle with company so it's not bad. Furthermore, our creatures (if they can stay in play) are usually bigger. Again, hold smiter until your hand is empty. Post board this matchup stays about the same.
Grixis Delver: Even. When delver transforms turn 2 and can't be denied, this can be rough. Lots of play in this match, and tasi and gurmag can be a pain until gavony gets online. This deck can get in under us at times, especially if they are on the play. After board you have to watch for blood moon, fun match with both players turning creatures sideways.
RG Tron: Great. MD thalia and mindcensor slow them down long enough, and post-board meddling mage and more ghost quarters are pretty good trumps. Karn isn't a huge deal unless we have not established a board position.
Amulet Bloom: Great. Path the titan, mindcensor the searching. Meddling mage from the board is kinda funny. Hivemind can randomly kill anyone though, but expect it to come out after game 1.
Merfolk: Bad. Fishies tend to be about the same speed, but will often be unblockable. Don't worry about vial and trade creatures at every opportunity. After board, don't remove gavony for ghost quarter. Mutavault is annoying, sure, but we need a way to grow the army to keep up with lord production.
Junk Company: Good. Their creatures are smaller and slower to accommodate a combo we can disrupt with scavenging ooze. Post-board this gets even better.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
The only difference is MD creatures, trying to diversify a bit:
-2 Voice of Resurgence + 1 Qasali Pridemage + 1 Scooze
-2 Loxodon Smiter + 1 Silverblade Paladin + 1 Brimaz
-2 Kitchen Finks + 2 Geist of Traft
I'm also very tempted to throw in some Fleecemane Lion, but it's mostly a meta call. Have to try it first.
Another thing I have no real idea about is whether Remand or Mana Leak would be better. Your thoughts?
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Outside of a CC combo, Tideforce is just an horrendous card. Just like everybody has dropped Spike Feeder in the Podless Pod, despite the infinite life eventuality.
You would need to **** up the mana base really good though. 4 Hallowed Fountains and 4 Breeding Pools and 8 fetches that would give Knight +16/+16 (while dealing yourself 24 in the process).
But seriously, if you are trying to win with KotR then Courser isn't a bad idea. If you won't run Ghiest for a more aggro approach then why not try to clog up the board and smash through another way?
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsOr Lotus Cobra
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebears1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Eternal Witness
2 Fleecemane Lion
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Loxodon Smiter
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Mirror Entity
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Silverblade Paladin
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Collected Company
4 Remand
4 Path to Exile
Lands
3 Plains
2 Sunpetal Grove
2 Temple Garden
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heat
2 Flooded Strand
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
1 Breeding Pool
Completely agree with your post and definitely going for Remand.
Brimaz is just a favorite card and will probably go for something like Reclamation Sage
Mana base was done quick, utility lands like Sejiri Steppe and Ghost will definitely come in.
I've also read about rancors and I'm not sure they would fit.. the noncreature slots are already tight, I wouldn't dilute the CC chances to put rancors in. But I admit we could need something to push.. in which case Brave the Elements seems quite better to me. Giving both protection and evasion, as all our beaters are white.
Black also offers better hate bears in Sin Collector + other goodies. Blue mostly offers Glen Elendra Archmage who are quite strong, but you can't grab her with CC.
You are only splashing blue for Remands, right? It just seems better to go with Thoughtseizes. Unless you go with a Flash style variant with Cliques, Restos etc.
Regarding tempo, yes Remand is usually a tempo play but not in a deck that want to cast stuff in the main phase. Holding up 2 mana and not spending them is virtual tempo loss. I also don't understand the argument about Remand stopping you from over-extending. You should build your deck in a way that gives you the most options, if you play around sweepers it should be because the situation calls for it and not because you're forced into it. Besides sweepers aren't something that is relevant to worry about in the majority of matchups. Plus again, Thoughtseize gives you perfect information on this regard.
Sin Collector is a sideboard card. You have Eidelon in those slots now which is good vs. Storm and Living End but not against stuff like Tron, Scapeshift, Twin, Control etc. I just think that black offers more than blue does. Decay is also hard to dismiss.
KnightfallGWUR
Azorius Control UW
Burn RBG
Because Bant is an uncompetitive color combination in modern, and Junk is quite competitive, on the other hand? giving up thoughtseize, Siege Rhino, etc. is not worth the cost of having Remand, a rather mediocre card.
It's also the 5th most played card in Modern on Mtgtop8, to define it mediocre I'd say you've never played it.
But anyway. There's no point in posting that Bant shouldn't be played because Junk is competitive. You're wasting your time and it doesn't help at all the deck discussion.
We're trying to build around CC which has no sinergies with Liliana Lingering or Rhino. And playing playsets of thoughtseize and abrupt decay would lower the creature count too much.
Whether or not this is true, you can't just come into the BANT Company threads and argue about it. That would be like going into the UR Delver thread and telling them Grixis Delver is better, just go play that. It's one thing to talk about the color combinations as a means of strengthening the deck, e.g. identifying gaps in Bant that Junk doesn't have, and then looking for Bant-based solutions for those gaps. It's another entirely to say "just go play Junk". Future comments like that will just be treated as spamming or trolling, depending on their content.
If anyone has any questions about this, please ask me before posting something that might get you in hot water.
Carry on!
I think the deck is way too durdly to be considered a tempo deck, it plays the same creature suit as Junk midrange does. But if it's that's the direction you wanna go, I'd make some adjustments.
In a tempo shell you want to hit hard with your creatures when you connect or you want to play creatures with flash, so that you can hold counter mana open with profit. I'd play stuff like Goyf, Geist oST and Clique over Knight, Finks and Voice.
Going T1 mana dork into T2 Geist into untap and Remand whatever he's playing is a strong tempo play. If you do the same line with Knight it won't be the same 1-2 punch since he's probably gonna sit as a 3/3 and spend a turn or two on D, tapping and searching for a land. Again the same with Finks, not great alone with Remand back up but great supported by a bunch of other dudes. Again, if you play Finks, you want to tap out and swarm the board, since he's not a heavy hitter but a slow value dork.
EDIT: Though, I'm not sure if going the "resolve 1 or 2 threats and hold up counter mana" plan goes well with Company. Since one rewards you for playing a lot of creatures while the other rewards you for playing a lot of non-creature spells. I'm not sure whether Company is stronger than Cryptic in this kind of shell since the strategies has a tension between them.