MTG Salvation

Hey Guys,
Im working on perfecting a competitive Rafiq of the Many deck for my local play group. The deck has met with some success, winning a few games here and there, but the main problem I run into is that my meta is heavy combo based. The more common combo decks I run into are those based around Sharuum the Hegemon and Arcum Dagsson, with combos and tricks involving Mycosynth Lattice becoming incredibly popular recently. I was wondering if any more experienced players had any tips/suggestions as to cards I could add or subtract that would help me against combo or just help make the deck better in general. Feel free to suggest any card you feel would be good, price isnt a consideration at this point.




Changes:

Possibly slap a Force of Will in place of Counterspell? And put a Jace, the Mind Sculptor in it. Every deck with blue in it needs more force and jace, IMHO. You've got more than enough control to support a Jace, so why not? Fateseal is pretty sick in commander, I've seen. He's chock-full of free brainstorms, AND can make people lose REALLY fast.

You have nowhere near enough removal and the efficiency of your list is not so great. There are lots of cards you can cut

Also, Possibly running counter/top would help out quite a bit with your commander getting spot-removaled. Also, Day of Judgment or Wrath of God would work WONDERS in there. You lack board sweep, which is oh-so-present in Commander. Even an Evacuation or a Kedrekit Leviathan wouldn't be too shabby.

Quote from Swift2210

You have nowhere near enough removal and the efficiency of your list is not so great. There are lots of cards you can cut

What cards would you guys recommend dropping?

Your landbase is sort of far from ideal. It shouldnt be a huge problem but it could be more efficient as well as using some different utility lands. My own bant based list looks like this for land:



I am not saying that that is the above and beyond perfect landbase or anything but my point here is that you could use some dual lands and fetchlands to fix faster. It helps with landing all of your colors every time as soon as possible. If you get screwed over for one of your colors in the early game it can cost you the game vs combo.

Mana critters like Avacyn's Pilgrim are decent when it comes to getting going quickly however they end up getting wrathed easily as well as being usually worse when drawn beyond the first few turns. It is something to consider at least. They let you get going fast but they have some issues as well.

I feel like you have a little too much small exalt ability creatures. The Noble Hierarch is great but I get the feeling that Stoic Angel, Ardent Plea and Giltspire Avenger are just kind of so so. You might cut back on these smaller effects a little which will allow you to pick up more removal / counterspells.

Hindering Light I dont like how narrow this is. The card draw on it is nice however you can get other counterspells at 2 mana that work a bit broader. It sucks to have this when someone tries to combo out.

Worldly Tutor -> Chord of Calling I like the into play aspect of chord as well as the fact that I dont have to wait to draw a card to get the creature. Chord of Calling uses up slightly more mana but it has the convoke as well which actually synergyzes nicely with some of the exault mechanics.

I feel like your equipment package is a little overboard as well... I would try to cut back at least 2-3 of them. You have a lot of tutors for them as well so I am sure you must have some less utilized equipment.

Dueling Grounds does this even matter if your problem is with combo players?

The biggest thing I am seeing is that you have almost no alternate wincons. Your primary gameplan is to either be swinging with rafiq or utlizing rafiq with another big fatty to connect. Without rafiq you have like 3 creatures that might be able to do some work. On top of this you only have a handful of tutors that you could use to fetch rafiq if he got tucked. It might be something to address with a few plan B options.

I feel like you have too much pump, and non existant card draw. On top of that your ramp is very short term which can help with explosive openings however the first wrath that comes down takes out all your critters and puts you dead in the water. You need to pick up some card draw and consider the midgame some I think.

You absolutely need some Return to Dust. This will help you beat artifact combo decks. Also some good Swords to Plowshare and Path to Exile to get rid of those pesky creature combo pieces. Graveyard hate is good too. You want to exile as much stuff as you can from the combo decks.

Also, listen to ISB. Manabases are the foundation of your deck as cliche as it sounds.

Cards I feel could be cut:

• Distortion Strike
  
• Artful Dodge
  
• Llanowar Elves
  
• Wirewood Elves
  
• Noble Hierarch
  
• Steward of Valeron
  
• Putrefax
  
• Rebuff the Wicked
  

If you wanna run mana-exceleration that isn't artifact or spell based make sure its creatures that put lands into play.

Ramp, draw, blowout an opponent, remove threats to you, all while maintaining as much card advantage as possible. That's the best way I've found to play Rafiq at a large table. Rafiq generally does not last a turn. You've got to kill an opponent on your turn upon playing him. Cards like Privileged Position and its ilk are subpar imo since they can only be used to protect your board position and nothing else. Cut them all. They are dead cards if you have nothing worth protecting and are praying for a board wipe. Feel free to check my Rafiq list for ideas. ISB's Jenara list is also an excellent resource for ideas - I've not seen a more efficient Bant list than his

Thanks for all the help everyone! I just made my first changelog, please keep up the suggestions!

Austere Command over Akroma's Vengeance.

More on your equipment package.

Argentum Armor is super expensive to play, and super expensive to equip. When someone can just capsize, or pongify it or the creature you're attaching it to (if you hard cast it) it's really weak. The one good thing about it is Stonehewer can throw that sucker into play and attach it, which is awesome. But if you draw it you're pretty much never going to want to waste the 12 mana to use it. I'd cut it, and by proxy Stonehewer.

Darksteel Plate is nice as well for surviving wrath's, beast within, pongify. Except swords to plowshares, condemn, oblation, bant charm, etc can still get rid of whatever's plated and this costs a fair amount of mana as well. It's not speeding you up any, especially against combo decks.

Behemoth Sludge is cheap, gives evasion, pump, and lifelink. It's not bad, but it still costs 6. Sword of Fire and Ice is certainly better and I don't see that in the list.

Loxodon Warhammer is another decent pump with evasion and lifelink, but still costs a fair amount. I may keep one of these, but I'd likely cut it for something better. Maybe some other form of evasion, or some other creature with evasion. Play X creature, pass turn. Then play rafiq giving it double strike? Not all that bad.

Maze if Ith is an underwhelming land IMO. Doesn't tap for mana, and often is the first target of strip mines and the like. I'd run Kor Haven over this any day.

If you look at Swift's list, or ISB's bant list (different general) you'll notice a resounding theme. Almost every card in their decks synergize together to generate card advantage. Most of them are creatures that can be recurred or tutored for easily off of the excellent cards enchantments and artifacts in these colors. Birthing Pod and Survival of the Fittest are amazing ways to generate card advantage off of creatures, and then use those creatures as blockers or double striking attackers. You play a primeval titan to get lands, and he swings for 14 with trample next main phase instead of 6? Or any of the other less likely creatures to attack, even Mulldrifter can sneak in some damage with Rafiq around.

Something like Wilt-Leaf Liege isn't going to get you too far, as it's just a color intensive +2/+2 to Rafiq with no evasion. Focus on creatures that generate instant benefit, IE ones with Come Into Play triggers, haste, and the like.

As much as I like Jenara, she probably wouldn't be worth dumping a ton of mana into. There's definitely plenty of room for improvement here.

Changelog Updated. Seriously, thanks for all the advice. I do have a question though, should I drop fabricate and steelshaper's gift? Since I am running less equipment now would it be worth it to replace them with something else?

Your list is looking much better.

Suggested changes:
Idyllic Tutor->Sylvan Library: Draw
Fabricate->Tezzeret the Seeker: Best artifact tutor
Steelshaper's Gift->Trinket Mage: 2 for one, helps you get SDT or Sol Ring or Skullclamp
Akroma's V->Austere Command: controlled board wipe
Mass Calcify->Rout: instant speed board wipe
Worldly Tutor->Chord of Calling: instant speed puts a creature into play
Absorb->Skullclamp: draw engine which keeps you in the game after you fire your bullets
Mox Diamond->Mana Crypt: no comparison, no card disadvantage
Loxodon Warhammer->Wood Elves: may want to add coiling oracle too, ramp is key as ISB says in the first 4 turns
Champion's Helm->Inkmoth Nexus: infect
Jace->Birthing Pod: pod is brutally effective with etb creature effects
Ascetiscm->Yavimaya Dryad: more ramp
Priviledged Position->Farhaven Elf: ramp
Oblivion Ring->Harmonic Sliver: clampable removal - o-ring is weak as after a board wipe what you removed returns
Hindering Light->Oracle of Mul Daya: conditional counters are weak, oracle is almost as good as prime time
Grand Abolisher->Reveillark: abolisher doesn't stop your opponent from doing bad things just on your turn
Shield of the Oversoul->Triumph of the Hordes: finisher on 1-2 opponents but you need a high creature count for this to be good
Dryad Arbor->Tropical Island
Flagstones->Tundra

Quote from Swift2210

Your list is looking much better.

Suggested changes:
Idyllic Tutor->Sylvan Library: Draw
Fabricate->Tezzeret the Seeker: Best artifact tutor
Steelshaper's Gift->Trinket Mage: 2 for one, helps you get SDT or Sol Ring or Skullclamp
Akroma's V->Austere Command
Mass Calcify->Rout
Worldly Tutor->Eladamri's Call
Absorb->Skullclamp
Mox Diamond->Mana Crypt
Loxodon Warhammer->Wood Elves
Champion's Helm->Inkmoth Nexus
Jace->Birthing Pod
Ascetiscm->Yavimaya Dryad
Priviledged Position->Farhaven Elf
Oblivion Ring->Harmonic Sliver
Hindering Light->Oracle of Mul Daya
Grand Abolisher->Reveillark
Shield of the Oversoul->Triumph of the Hordes
Dryad Arbor->Tropical Island
Flagstones->Tundra

I agree with all this! Although I don't dislike Grand Abolisher, I think he's pretty decent for drawing out counters, or can be an excellent way to polish someone off if they allow it to go through.

Quote from Swift2210

Your list is looking much better.

Suggested changes:
Worldly Tutor->Eladamri's Call

I like most of the suggestions you had swift but he has Eladamri's Call in his list already so I will suggest Chord of Calling as the replacement for Worldly Tutor.

Team bant all up in this thread.

The two biggest suggestions I can offer up are Gilded Drake and Phantasmal Image. I can't live without these cards.

Happy Banting!

Quote from ISBPathfinder

I like most of the suggestions you had swift but he has Eladamri's Call in his list already so I will suggest Chord of Calling as the replacement for Worldly Tutor.

Missed that, fixed