I plan to cut the one Retreat to Coralhelm and add in another Reflector Mage. KotR is good enough by itself that it doesn't need Retreat, at least in this build.
My SB is kind of a mess at the moment. For non-creature spells, I had a smattering of Blessed Alliance, Bojuka Bog, Unified Will, Worship, and Stony Silence. For creatures I put in Izzet Staticaster, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and I forget what else. But I plan to make some changes to make the SB more silver bullet-ish by replacing the Bogs with Remorseful Cleric, for example. And maybe Kataki in place of Stony Silence. I recognize Stony is generally better at shutting down artifact-based decks but with Kataki I have a far, far greater chance of actually seeing it (1 in the deck, plus 4 Chords, plus 4 CoCo's).
Hey all, sorry if this constitutes a thread hijack, but is this the best forum spot to discuss Bant Vizier Knightfall? I know a lot of people run standard Bant Knightfall whereas others run Counters Company, but I run a mash-up version that combines the two. I can't seem to find a thread that discusses that version of the deck exclusively. Is there a better primer/post/Reddit subforum/Facebook group I should be aware of? I started playtesting the deck and it feels really solid, and then I brought it to FNM this week and went 4-1 with all 2-0 match wins and a loss to Martyr Proc (which is kinda funny because you would think the infinite combo wouldn't care about life-gain). It feels like it has game against most decks with the ability to win via regular midrange beats, combo, or controlly EOT shenanigans.
Hey all, coming back to Bant after spending some time away from it. I know there's been some divergences in lists in terms of traditional Retreat combo vs. Jace vs. jamming both, etc. What I'm most curious about is - what happened to cards like Reflector Mage and to a lesser extent Courser of Kruphix and Selfless Spirit mainboard? Most lists that pop up don't seem to have any of those in the 60 with the exception of an occasional 1-of Selfless Spirit. Reflector Mage was MVP status much of the time behind Queller/KotR and dorks and Courser is just great value any time it hits play. Is there something with the meta that has caused this change? I'd still think Reflector Mage is good against Hollow One, Affinity, Tron, Humans if you plan to race them, Death's Shadow, and so on. So it's very good against a majority of the better decks, right? It also protects Jace well by bouncing potential threats on board. Also, I see decks jamming Voice of Resurgence main now as a 4-of, no questions asked. Against what decks are people finding that card to be most effective, Jeskai Control and the like?
Also, for those trying out Meddling Mage mainboard, what kind of success (or lack thereof) have you experienced?
Thanks for this man, great write up for sure. I'm a little down on the Nissa though right now, and run an eidolon of rhetoric and now kataki in place of the two Nissa's. Also, 20 lands is scary AF to me, I at least need 21! This dude had great things to say though and I will be continuing to play this version of the deck for the foreseeable future, having that instant win factor is so huge, though I do miss queller sometimes...:-/
I haven't tried the Vizier version TBH, but I've been wondering why that version doesn't play Spell Queller. It is by far and away the best card in traditional Bant Knightfall and does everything you'd want it to do - is a creature, provides evasive damage, and of course most importantly "counters" important spells that your opponent casts (Karn, Scapeshift, etc.). Queller is an absolute blow-out card. How come people aren't finding a way to slot it into Vizier lists?
Also, is there any particular reason why Selfless Spirit has gone out of flavor? That used to be an auto-include and now traditional Bant lists don't even run it. It seems quite good against not just board wipes but even in creature-based matchups where the flying is relevant. Thoughts?
So hey guys, I'm going to GP Birmingham with my team in just over 10 days, and as I promised I'll be writing up a full tournament report, like I did with my win-a-box a few pages back.
Our team are all aiming to at the least make day 2, but I want top 64.
So short and long of it, could you all take a look at my 75 and criticize the hell out of it. I've been keeping up with every possible avenue of Knightfall information online, and would love to have to justify my picks to you lot, as giving a reason for why I'm doing what I'm doing might be really fruitful in terms of discussion.
Mainboard;
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
4 Reflector Mage
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
Sideboard;
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Stony Silence
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Dusk//Dawn
2 Negate
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
After recent playtesting with the deck, I'm not sold on running both 4-of Reflector Mage and also 4-of Path to Exile mainboard. I feel like it may be better to throw some of those cards in the SB. Does anyone agree or disagree with that assessment?
Match 1: Mono Green Stompy - W (2-0) (1-0)
Game 1: When playing against another fair midrange creature deck, T1 dork, T2 KotR, T3 CoCo into KotR plus Voice followed by Path to Exile on his Rhonas makes this a safe win.
Game 2: This game got pretty nutty. He played a bunch of early threats – Evolution One, double Strangleroot Geist, Rhonas – but I had a CoCo into Spell Queller to deal with the Rhonas, then after he Rancored a Strangleroot Geist and attacked, I CoCo’ed into 2x Voice to purposely chump block and have both die and make two massive tokens (I had several dorks in play at this point). I had yet another Spell Queller in hand to alpha strike and counter the Fog he played to try and survive.
Match 2: Taking Turns – W (2-1) (2-0)
Game 1: T1 dork, T2 KotR for early beats. I actually had a misplay here where my opponent immediately conceded after I responded to a Time Warp (5 cmc) with a Spell Queller (only exiles 4 cmc or less). By the time we realized it we were already shuffling for the next game. Whoops. It probably was a toss-up at that point, maybe slight lean in my favor because he did have a Dictate of Kruphix in play but no other extra-turn cards in hand to combo off.
Game 2: I mulliganed down to 6 and was on the draw, had a Ghost Quarter but no green land sources in hand – I did have a bunch of dorks and good-stuff ready to play – I decided to keep the risky hand and didn’t see a green source the entire time until he comboed and killed me.
Game 3: Since I was on the play I went T1 dork into T2 KotR for early beats, T3 Reflector Mage just to add damage (I didn’t have anything else good to side in its place), then T4 I Spell Queller’ed Cryptic Command, T5 cast Negate on his Time Warp and that was game.
Match 3: RW Prison – Draw (1-1-1) (2-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember he cast a T2 Blood Moon (and he was on the play), luckily I had a Forest in hand to keep my hopes afloat. I was able to eventually cast a CoCo with the single Forest and 3 non-basic Mountains (lol) but from whatever I played out he responded with Anger of the Gods and wiped my board. I did play a mana dork or two in there but they died to Lightning Helixes. I eventually die to Chandra and Nahiri.
Game 2: My notes are sparse here as well, but from what I recall I was able to stick a double KotR early, he was able to take care of one of them (with a Nahiri?) and the other with a Blessed Alliance eventually, however by that point my KotR had put a bunch of lands into play (including Kessig Wolf Run) and the Courser of Kruphix that survived an Anger of the Gods got pumped big-time and swung and killed him.
Game 3: We only had like 6 minutes heading into the last game and we had a straight up draw due to lack of time.
Match 4: Death & Taxes – W (2-1) (3-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember him being a bit screwed on lands (he only had 2 in play most of the game) and because I had a bunch of mana dorks in play I was fine mana-wise. I “returned” the favor of DNT land-screw by fetching up a Ghost Quarter with KotR and killing off one of his lands that he couldn’t search for because he had 2x Leonin Arbiter in play. My ground game was just better than his – at peak he had 2x Leonin Arbiter and a Thalia – which doesn’t scare a massive KotR plus Exalted triggers from 2x Noble and a Qasali. I also had a BoP in play to block as needed.
Game 2: This game was very back and forth but his situation looked much better than Game 1 by getting out an early Vial and ticked it up to 3, which eventually resulted in him flickering in a Flickerwisp to save one creature, then eventually he broke the board stall by casting a Mirran Crusader and Vial’ing in another Mirran Crusader. I wasn’t ever able to stabilize or find the Kessig Wolf Run I needed to get through.
Game 3: Another back and forth game that went to turns. He had an Arbiter in play and was able to flicker his Blade Splicer three(!) different times for tons of Golems. He also had 2 Vials plus a bunch of lands to do whatever he wanted. I was able to slow him down somewhat with Reflector Mage and I had 3 or so mana dorks in play to chump block to keep my life stable. I had a KotR that was attacking every turn to keep him on the defensive, and a VoR and used the Reflector defensively as well. The board stall was broken when I played a CoCo finding an Izzet Staticaster and a Scavenging Ooze to stabilize my life, then a turn or two later I drew into a 2nd Izzet Staticaster and machine-gun mode was on. It took a few turns but eventually I was able to machine gun everything down and killed him with KotR plus Voice token beats.
This match went way over time so it was one of the most stressful matches I’ve played. Everyone was standing around watching us including the judge. I made multiple misplays but fortunately the Staticasters made my life easier by shooting everything down to clear the way.
Match 5: Burn – W (2-1) (4-0-1)
Game 1: Fortunately my opponent had to mulligan twice and I was on the play, so I was able get an early KotR on board and he had to use a removal spell to take care of the Spell Queller that had exiled one of his spells. The KotR was “only” a 6/6 but two swings plus a few of his fetches meant I was able to get him down to 0 exactly.
Game 2: I mulliganed and kept a 6-card hand with 3 lands, 2 Finks, and a Courser. My scry was another land so I threw it down to the bottom. As you’d expect being on the draw against Burn with a slow hand, I died horribly. I did make it to a T3 in which I was able to actually cast the Finks, but he responded with Skull Crack.
Game 3: This is one of those games where you skirt the line of death with Burn. He got out an early Goblin Guide and hit me once, and the second time I was able to Path in response to the reveal trigger to still get the land and remove the creature without taking the combat damage. I was able to get out a KotR and a Spell Queller exiling a spell, however he used a Helix on the Queller to go from 11 back up to 14 (the previous turn the KotR was a 5/5 and hit him from 17 down to 12, then he cracked a fetch to go down to 11). At this point I was at 9 life, he hits me with a 3-damage burn spell and I am down to 6. I play an Ooze that I had been sandbagging in my hand. He hits me with Boros Charm down to 2. He has a burn spell in hand, however there are a few creatures in the bin and he isn’t able to kill me without me activating Ooze in response to get up to 4 life to avoid dying (by dropping from 4 down to 1). Eventually over the next few turns I am able to sequence my green mana such that I can activate Ooze here and there without dying. Unfortunately I recall having to keep my KotR up from attacking because he had a Goblin Guide in play and I needed to fetch for more Forests to eat creatures if need be. My life yo-yo’s from 2 up to 4, he Bolts me down to 1, that turn I am able to attack with KotR and he has to block with Guide so I eat Guide (safely) to go up to 2. He holds a card in hand again because of my Ooze and he is at 13 life (he was at 14 and cracked a fetch at some point to go to 13). On that turn, I have 12 damage on board between my KotR and Ooze (I think they were both 6/6’s), however I top-deck a fetch land which I throw in the bin to pump my KotR and deal exactly 13 damage to drop him to 0. What a game.
At this point I have 4 wins, 0 losses, and 1 draw. I am tied for 1st with 3 others but due to breakers I am 4th.
For Match 6, I intentionally draw with my opponent to guarantee a spot at 4-0-2.
For final pairings, going into the final round I was 4th, however the guy in 7th was 4-1 and had a play-in game and won and vaulted everyone to 1st with 15 points (5-1-0). Unfortunately, that meant I dropped from 4th to 5th, and that also meant I would be on the draw versus the play against whoever my opponent was, which happened to be… the opponent I unintentionally drew with during Swiss.
Quarterfinals: RW Prison – L (1-2)
Game 1: On the draw, I am able to Spell Quell his Blood Moon, but his Anger of the Gods kills my mana dork, a 3/3 KotR, and the Queller, meaning he got back the Blood Moon I was fighting over anyway. In retrospect I should have held up the KotR until it was at least a 4/4 and sequenced my lands differently so that I wouldn’t have to waste resources dealing with the Blood Moon. I eventually draw two dorks but they both meet Lightning Helix, and the Chandra on board makes it game.
Game 2: On the play, I get early dorks into a Courser of Kruphix and EOT CoCo into double KotR. The next turn he tries to Wrath of God my board, but I CoCo again into a Spell Queller to counter it and swing for a billion. The Spell Queller off of CoCo was actually not risky because it had been flipped/revealed from the Courser so I knew I had the creature-counterspell fired up and ready to go.
Game 3: Unfortunately a frustrating end to the tournament. He lands an early Blood Moon and removes my dork with a Helix which is not the end of the world because I have a basic Forest, basic Plains, and one other land in play. I have 3(!) CoCo in hand and he has a Chandra on board with Blood Moon. If I get any kind of 4th mana source I am waltzing into the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the 3 CoCo rot in my hand the entire game as I sit there for 4 straight turns unable to draw a land or mana dork. Them’s the breaks, I guess.
So I ended 5th overall after losing (the other favored seeds won as well, from what I saw). The total tournament players were 40-some. I heard one person say 40 players and another say 52.
In addition to my Bant Knightfall deck, other decks from what I could see in the Top 8 included Smallpox (1st after Swiss), Titanshift, Esper Control, RW Prison, ANT, and Counters Company. I don’t know what the last deck was.
MVP: Spell Queller; KotR and CoCo for obvious reasons. Spell Queller may be the best card in the deck. 8 mana dorks seem the way to go so you can more or less guarantee a T2 3-drop or T3 CoCo.
LVP: 2-drop spot; Retreat to Coralhelm. Voice did very little other than the trendy Match 1 interaction with CoCo and being a wall against DNT. Most of the time my opponents just ignored or played around it. Qasali Pridemage was fine but I only run it as a 1-of mainboard. Ooze really only had relevance against Burn, but for whatever reason it didn’t have the massive impact I was looking for. I will chalk that up to MU’s being poor (Taking Turns, RW Prison, etc.).
I never played Retreat to Coralhelm a single time all tournament and, honestly, I don’t even know how significant of a play it would be. It’s not retrievable via CoCo and my KotR were pretty ridiculous as it was being all-stars anyway. I suppose it is fine as a 2-of, but for being a creature-combo deck there really wasn’t ever a “combo kill” involving Retreat.
Final Thoughts: If Spell Queller didn’t exist I would think that Counters Company is just a better deck, however Spell Queller is a game-changer by being able to hold up mana for either a Queller or EOT CoCo depending on what your opponent does. I can see why Kelvin Chew proposed a hybrid between Bant Knightfall and Abzan Counters Company as that could potentially get the better-combo angle of Counters Company (with better 2-drops) to pair alongside the amazing benefits of Bant – Spell Queller, Negate out of the sideboard, the fact that KotR can “combo” itself and wreck face np, etc. I haven’t decided whether I will continue to run traditional Bant or try Vizier Knightfall. We shall see! Thanks for reading.
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4 Birds of Paradise
4 Devoted Druid
3 Vizier of Remedies
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
1 Reflector Mage
1 Walking Ballista
1 Eternal Witness
4 Collected Company
1 Retreat to Coralhelm
And then 22 lands, including the Kessig Wolf Run package (i.e., including a Stomping Ground).
I plan to cut the one Retreat to Coralhelm and add in another Reflector Mage. KotR is good enough by itself that it doesn't need Retreat, at least in this build.
My SB is kind of a mess at the moment. For non-creature spells, I had a smattering of Blessed Alliance, Bojuka Bog, Unified Will, Worship, and Stony Silence. For creatures I put in Izzet Staticaster, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and I forget what else. But I plan to make some changes to make the SB more silver bullet-ish by replacing the Bogs with Remorseful Cleric, for example. And maybe Kataki in place of Stony Silence. I recognize Stony is generally better at shutting down artifact-based decks but with Kataki I have a far, far greater chance of actually seeing it (1 in the deck, plus 4 Chords, plus 4 CoCo's).
Also, for those trying out Meddling Mage mainboard, what kind of success (or lack thereof) have you experienced?
I haven't tried the Vizier version TBH, but I've been wondering why that version doesn't play Spell Queller. It is by far and away the best card in traditional Bant Knightfall and does everything you'd want it to do - is a creature, provides evasive damage, and of course most importantly "counters" important spells that your opponent casts (Karn, Scapeshift, etc.). Queller is an absolute blow-out card. How come people aren't finding a way to slot it into Vizier lists?
After recent playtesting with the deck, I'm not sold on running both 4-of Reflector Mage and also 4-of Path to Exile mainboard. I feel like it may be better to throw some of those cards in the SB. Does anyone agree or disagree with that assessment?
Decklist:
Creatures (28)
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Voice of Resurgence
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Qasali Pridemage
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Spell Queller
4x Reflector Mage
2x Courser of Kruphix
Non-Creature Spells (10)
4x Collected Company
4x Path to Exile
2x Retreat to Coralhelm
Lands (22)
4x Windswept Heath
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Botanical Sanctum
1x Horizon Canopy
3x Forest
1x Plains
1x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
1x Stomping Ground
1x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Gavony Township
Sideboard (15)
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Izzet Staticaster
3x Kitchen Finks
2x Negate
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Qasali Pridemage
2x Stony Silence
Match 1: Mono Green Stompy - W (2-0) (1-0)
Game 1: When playing against another fair midrange creature deck, T1 dork, T2 KotR, T3 CoCo into KotR plus Voice followed by Path to Exile on his Rhonas makes this a safe win.
Game 2: This game got pretty nutty. He played a bunch of early threats – Evolution One, double Strangleroot Geist, Rhonas – but I had a CoCo into Spell Queller to deal with the Rhonas, then after he Rancored a Strangleroot Geist and attacked, I CoCo’ed into 2x Voice to purposely chump block and have both die and make two massive tokens (I had several dorks in play at this point). I had yet another Spell Queller in hand to alpha strike and counter the Fog he played to try and survive.
Match 2: Taking Turns – W (2-1) (2-0)
Game 1: T1 dork, T2 KotR for early beats. I actually had a misplay here where my opponent immediately conceded after I responded to a Time Warp (5 cmc) with a Spell Queller (only exiles 4 cmc or less). By the time we realized it we were already shuffling for the next game. Whoops. It probably was a toss-up at that point, maybe slight lean in my favor because he did have a Dictate of Kruphix in play but no other extra-turn cards in hand to combo off.
Game 2: I mulliganed down to 6 and was on the draw, had a Ghost Quarter but no green land sources in hand – I did have a bunch of dorks and good-stuff ready to play – I decided to keep the risky hand and didn’t see a green source the entire time until he comboed and killed me.
Game 3: Since I was on the play I went T1 dork into T2 KotR for early beats, T3 Reflector Mage just to add damage (I didn’t have anything else good to side in its place), then T4 I Spell Queller’ed Cryptic Command, T5 cast Negate on his Time Warp and that was game.
Match 3: RW Prison – Draw (1-1-1) (2-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember he cast a T2 Blood Moon (and he was on the play), luckily I had a Forest in hand to keep my hopes afloat. I was able to eventually cast a CoCo with the single Forest and 3 non-basic Mountains (lol) but from whatever I played out he responded with Anger of the Gods and wiped my board. I did play a mana dork or two in there but they died to Lightning Helixes. I eventually die to Chandra and Nahiri.
Game 2: My notes are sparse here as well, but from what I recall I was able to stick a double KotR early, he was able to take care of one of them (with a Nahiri?) and the other with a Blessed Alliance eventually, however by that point my KotR had put a bunch of lands into play (including Kessig Wolf Run) and the Courser of Kruphix that survived an Anger of the Gods got pumped big-time and swung and killed him.
Game 3: We only had like 6 minutes heading into the last game and we had a straight up draw due to lack of time.
Match 4: Death & Taxes – W (2-1) (3-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember him being a bit screwed on lands (he only had 2 in play most of the game) and because I had a bunch of mana dorks in play I was fine mana-wise. I “returned” the favor of DNT land-screw by fetching up a Ghost Quarter with KotR and killing off one of his lands that he couldn’t search for because he had 2x Leonin Arbiter in play. My ground game was just better than his – at peak he had 2x Leonin Arbiter and a Thalia – which doesn’t scare a massive KotR plus Exalted triggers from 2x Noble and a Qasali. I also had a BoP in play to block as needed.
Game 2: This game was very back and forth but his situation looked much better than Game 1 by getting out an early Vial and ticked it up to 3, which eventually resulted in him flickering in a Flickerwisp to save one creature, then eventually he broke the board stall by casting a Mirran Crusader and Vial’ing in another Mirran Crusader. I wasn’t ever able to stabilize or find the Kessig Wolf Run I needed to get through.
Game 3: Another back and forth game that went to turns. He had an Arbiter in play and was able to flicker his Blade Splicer three(!) different times for tons of Golems. He also had 2 Vials plus a bunch of lands to do whatever he wanted. I was able to slow him down somewhat with Reflector Mage and I had 3 or so mana dorks in play to chump block to keep my life stable. I had a KotR that was attacking every turn to keep him on the defensive, and a VoR and used the Reflector defensively as well. The board stall was broken when I played a CoCo finding an Izzet Staticaster and a Scavenging Ooze to stabilize my life, then a turn or two later I drew into a 2nd Izzet Staticaster and machine-gun mode was on. It took a few turns but eventually I was able to machine gun everything down and killed him with KotR plus Voice token beats.
This match went way over time so it was one of the most stressful matches I’ve played. Everyone was standing around watching us including the judge. I made multiple misplays but fortunately the Staticasters made my life easier by shooting everything down to clear the way.
Match 5: Burn – W (2-1) (4-0-1)
Game 1: Fortunately my opponent had to mulligan twice and I was on the play, so I was able get an early KotR on board and he had to use a removal spell to take care of the Spell Queller that had exiled one of his spells. The KotR was “only” a 6/6 but two swings plus a few of his fetches meant I was able to get him down to 0 exactly.
Game 2: I mulliganed and kept a 6-card hand with 3 lands, 2 Finks, and a Courser. My scry was another land so I threw it down to the bottom. As you’d expect being on the draw against Burn with a slow hand, I died horribly. I did make it to a T3 in which I was able to actually cast the Finks, but he responded with Skull Crack.
Game 3: This is one of those games where you skirt the line of death with Burn. He got out an early Goblin Guide and hit me once, and the second time I was able to Path in response to the reveal trigger to still get the land and remove the creature without taking the combat damage. I was able to get out a KotR and a Spell Queller exiling a spell, however he used a Helix on the Queller to go from 11 back up to 14 (the previous turn the KotR was a 5/5 and hit him from 17 down to 12, then he cracked a fetch to go down to 11). At this point I was at 9 life, he hits me with a 3-damage burn spell and I am down to 6. I play an Ooze that I had been sandbagging in my hand. He hits me with Boros Charm down to 2. He has a burn spell in hand, however there are a few creatures in the bin and he isn’t able to kill me without me activating Ooze in response to get up to 4 life to avoid dying (by dropping from 4 down to 1). Eventually over the next few turns I am able to sequence my green mana such that I can activate Ooze here and there without dying. Unfortunately I recall having to keep my KotR up from attacking because he had a Goblin Guide in play and I needed to fetch for more Forests to eat creatures if need be. My life yo-yo’s from 2 up to 4, he Bolts me down to 1, that turn I am able to attack with KotR and he has to block with Guide so I eat Guide (safely) to go up to 2. He holds a card in hand again because of my Ooze and he is at 13 life (he was at 14 and cracked a fetch at some point to go to 13). On that turn, I have 12 damage on board between my KotR and Ooze (I think they were both 6/6’s), however I top-deck a fetch land which I throw in the bin to pump my KotR and deal exactly 13 damage to drop him to 0. What a game.
At this point I have 4 wins, 0 losses, and 1 draw. I am tied for 1st with 3 others but due to breakers I am 4th.
For Match 6, I intentionally draw with my opponent to guarantee a spot at 4-0-2.
For final pairings, going into the final round I was 4th, however the guy in 7th was 4-1 and had a play-in game and won and vaulted everyone to 1st with 15 points (5-1-0). Unfortunately, that meant I dropped from 4th to 5th, and that also meant I would be on the draw versus the play against whoever my opponent was, which happened to be… the opponent I unintentionally drew with during Swiss.
Quarterfinals: RW Prison – L (1-2)
Game 1: On the draw, I am able to Spell Quell his Blood Moon, but his Anger of the Gods kills my mana dork, a 3/3 KotR, and the Queller, meaning he got back the Blood Moon I was fighting over anyway. In retrospect I should have held up the KotR until it was at least a 4/4 and sequenced my lands differently so that I wouldn’t have to waste resources dealing with the Blood Moon. I eventually draw two dorks but they both meet Lightning Helix, and the Chandra on board makes it game.
Game 2: On the play, I get early dorks into a Courser of Kruphix and EOT CoCo into double KotR. The next turn he tries to Wrath of God my board, but I CoCo again into a Spell Queller to counter it and swing for a billion. The Spell Queller off of CoCo was actually not risky because it had been flipped/revealed from the Courser so I knew I had the creature-counterspell fired up and ready to go.
Game 3: Unfortunately a frustrating end to the tournament. He lands an early Blood Moon and removes my dork with a Helix which is not the end of the world because I have a basic Forest, basic Plains, and one other land in play. I have 3(!) CoCo in hand and he has a Chandra on board with Blood Moon. If I get any kind of 4th mana source I am waltzing into the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the 3 CoCo rot in my hand the entire game as I sit there for 4 straight turns unable to draw a land or mana dork. Them’s the breaks, I guess.
So I ended 5th overall after losing (the other favored seeds won as well, from what I saw). The total tournament players were 40-some. I heard one person say 40 players and another say 52.
In addition to my Bant Knightfall deck, other decks from what I could see in the Top 8 included Smallpox (1st after Swiss), Titanshift, Esper Control, RW Prison, ANT, and Counters Company. I don’t know what the last deck was.
MVP: Spell Queller; KotR and CoCo for obvious reasons. Spell Queller may be the best card in the deck. 8 mana dorks seem the way to go so you can more or less guarantee a T2 3-drop or T3 CoCo.
LVP: 2-drop spot; Retreat to Coralhelm. Voice did very little other than the trendy Match 1 interaction with CoCo and being a wall against DNT. Most of the time my opponents just ignored or played around it. Qasali Pridemage was fine but I only run it as a 1-of mainboard. Ooze really only had relevance against Burn, but for whatever reason it didn’t have the massive impact I was looking for. I will chalk that up to MU’s being poor (Taking Turns, RW Prison, etc.).
I never played Retreat to Coralhelm a single time all tournament and, honestly, I don’t even know how significant of a play it would be. It’s not retrievable via CoCo and my KotR were pretty ridiculous as it was being all-stars anyway. I suppose it is fine as a 2-of, but for being a creature-combo deck there really wasn’t ever a “combo kill” involving Retreat.
Final Thoughts: If Spell Queller didn’t exist I would think that Counters Company is just a better deck, however Spell Queller is a game-changer by being able to hold up mana for either a Queller or EOT CoCo depending on what your opponent does. I can see why Kelvin Chew proposed a hybrid between Bant Knightfall and Abzan Counters Company as that could potentially get the better-combo angle of Counters Company (with better 2-drops) to pair alongside the amazing benefits of Bant – Spell Queller, Negate out of the sideboard, the fact that KotR can “combo” itself and wreck face np, etc. I haven’t decided whether I will continue to run traditional Bant or try Vizier Knightfall. We shall see! Thanks for reading.