Agreed, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade will have probably have her place in the deck and i will sleeve up again when i get my copies.
I also think Tithe Taker could be the CoCo's (maindeckable?) version of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. It surely fixes a lot of URx (i.e. jeskai/grixis) problems.
In my version though, i go up a copy of Retreat to Coralhelm and focus more on comboing off.
I'm interested in Lavinia, because she helps against our bad matchups (Tron and Storm are the 2 that give me the most problems usually). The fact that she interacts with quellers means that she is probably maindeckable too. + She incidentally hits many other cards (hollow one, terminus, any cascade effect, any suspend, etc).
Not too excited for tithe taker... Right now (with the meta being so fast, full of aggro and combo decks), I think our worst card is voice of resurgence. Tithe Taker just seems like a somewhat "different" version of voice (force opponent to play on their turn, replace itself with it dies. However I'd much rather have the voice token(s))
My thoughts exactly. It also gets summoner's pact in titan decks to add to the list.
I also think voice is pretty weak right now but a 2 for 1 is still useful in a lot of the aggro creature matchups as well as the grindy matchups like jund. Its 2 blockers for 2 mana, or its eating up their removal. I could see going to 2 but would most likely never take them out of my bant list unless people stopped playing instants.
As far as matchups go what are people thinking about arclight pheonix? I won a game 1 against it and then proceeded to drop 2 at my last IQ. My opponent had 3 thing in the ice game 2 and 2 in a game 3 where the only removal I had was 1 reflector mage.
I have not played knightfall VS phoenix, but I have played against a few different TiTi decks and I feel like this matchup is bad for us. We need to find an answer or else in 1 or 2 turns it's going to flip and probably win the game on its own.
I'm still watching the meta at my LGS, and maybe the answer is going up to 3 or 4 damping spheres. Really hurts the phoenix decks, help our bad matchups (tron, storm, etc). Feels bad to board like that but IMO the meta is the meta.
No way I can fit 3 damping spheres I my company version though:( I feel ok against Tron and storm with Lavinia though.
I'm hoping that going up to 2 reflector mages in main and having 1 in the side with a deputy will be enough bouncing to get to path. I'm not terrified of Phoenix cause ideally I'll be swinging back with a large knight. When I played it I had 0 mages main and 2 side.
Graveyard hate seems too slow and hurts Coco with the exception of remorseful cleric imo.
A few post ago I extolled the value of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and other planeswalkers over Collected Company. Lucky for you guys I did all the testing and I was wrong. It isn't bad per see to take out the Collect Companys for planeswalkers, they are very hard to kill other than direct damage, incur great card advantage and give your deck a different avenue of attack. But, like I said I was wrong. The key in all of this is this guy:
One of the reasons I moved to more planeswalkers was to get more removal spells into my deck. Detention Sphere, Settle the Wreckage, Dromoka's Command, and the full four Path to Exiles were helping me to win so many more games. Modern is so creature based at the moment and this suite of removal felt really good. Then I started to run into Jeskai and U/W control variants and they punched a glaring whole in my game plan. Without Collect Company I was forced to play almost entirely at sorcery speed which meant my threats, no matter how good, could be planned for, and eventually beaten. One of the draws, for me at least, to playing Bant Knightfall was the resiliency of playing against control. So many people at my LGS think they are these super blue control masters and beating them was always enjoyable. But like I said, Deputy of Detention changed everything. This card is bonkers. It is the removal I have been looking for and now allows me to go back to play the 4 Collected Companys. Deputy allows you to compete against any permanent and at instant speed thanks to Collected Company. If you are playing any number of Reflector Mages get them out of the main deck and add Deputy of Detention. The time and card it takes for your opponent to remove the Deputy is crucial to our goal in fighting fair magic. Here is my list:
Matchups for this beautiful pile of 75 are pretty good, especially the new Grixis Whir decks because of Deputy. Grixis Death's Shadow is always a tough match up but with three Voice of Resurgence and now the Deputy doing a much better job than Reflector Mage versus threats I am excited to go toe to toe with it more in MTGO Leagues. The match up against Burn is still abysmal. They are so spell based now that it is nearly impossible to beat them in game 1 unless you massively change the core of the deck by adding Courser of Kruphix, Knight of Autumn, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Then in game 2 they have 8 Searing Blood effects. I am hoping the Leyline of Sanctitys and Worship make this match up closer, but if the percentages continue to fall I may just give up the Burn matchup and save the sideboard slots to help versus Tron, Amulet Titan, and Izzet Drakes.
I have been meaning to sleeve up the deck againt after the release of Allegiance, specifically Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, but haven't realy come to it yet. The group and i have been off of modern for a while now and that's perfectly fine by me.
Your list looks great though and the incusion of Deputy of Detention over Reflector Mage sure is interesting.
I'd might try something like it but i go back down to 21 lands and make room for Lavinia, Azorous Renegade to combo with Queller.
On a side note.
With all the exiling going around in this particular build, what about a light black splash for some eldrazi processors?
Giving some new insights in the meta, where our biggest focus lies on:
I Lightning Bolt-heavy decks, of which some include Thing in the Ice and the others rely on Searing Blaze
II big mana decks like Tron and Amulet Titan (and Valakut, that is a bit on the rise)
III Dredge/ Death's Shadow/ Hollow One/ Humans/ Bant Spirits/ Hardened Scales Affinity as the aggressive decks
IV a small portion of UW miracle and Jeskai control shells
As fatkiddestroyers pointed out before, Deputy of Detention gave us one of the best three-drops ever printed. A catch all answer, that can trade 2:1 in some cases. This card is the reason that we can handle most of the threads gathered under III. Our goal in these matchups is to get punched and grind our opponent down. Deputy of Detention being a x/3 makes it a prime target for our opponents Lightning Bolts. He shares a red flag with our other x/3 being Spell Queller, that way our opponents must choose which thread to take out first when multiples are in play. A trick I found is to avoid quelling removal spells to prevent a chain reaction of spells hitting our creatures.
To fight the bolt-heavy meta I included 2 Courser of Kruphix, they can help us grind and are a solid dork-into-three drop opening. Spellskite in the sideboard helps us to control where the Lighning Bolts are going.
So how can we handle our worst matchups, the big mana decks? (II) In game 1 our focus is to combo them out as fast as possible, because they lack removal. Our chances are slim to win game 1, so lets focus on games 2 & 3 instead.
Explanation for Mana Leak over Unified Will and Negate: I found Unified Will underwhelming in the matchup vs. Amulet Titan, that is why I rethought its position in the sideboard. One might think, that Mana Leak is a contradiction to Path to Exile, because we are ramping our opponents. The matchups where Path to Exile is needed are not the ones where we need our Mana Leak, namely vs. Combo, Big Mana and Control. Yes, when the opponent has enough mana he can afford to play around Mana Leak and it can rarely handle a flipped Terminus in the later stages of an UW match. What I like about it, is that it performs reasonably well against big mana threads and does not have the condition of having more creatures than your opponents. I strongly advise against Negate, because Primeval Titan decks will feast on you. Our matchup vs. control is already okay, don't emphasize too much on it. Our counterspells are there to bring our opponents off balance. Counter them, when they are playing around Collected Company and Spell Queller. A hard counter on a removal spell or an early thread is very useful.
The reason I deviated from the 4-color-Knightfall approach (see down below) is that it is not possible to fit Deputy of Detention in there. If you are facing less aggro and more Big Mana and Control, then 4-color-Knightfall is still the way to go in my opinion. It offers a solid aggro curve with good interaction post board. Bant Knightfall lacks the ability to aggro the opponent out in the early game, and to punish very slow draws of your opponent.
Finally I want to talk about Lightning Bolt and Thing in the Ice. The removal spell is what you have to watch out for at all times. It is reasonable to slow roll a Knight of the Reliquary to prevent it from being bolted. On the other hand, in control and fair matchups all of our creatures have a red flag on top of their head. So your opponent will run out of Lightning Bolts eventually. I found Selfless Spirit to be a reasonable pick for the main deck. It synergizes well with Scavenging Ooze and keeps your prison creatures alive.
In the main deck you have 9 answers to Thing in the Ice with one more Reflector Mage in the sideboard. This card is the reason that I put 4 Path to Exile in the main deck. If you can't handle this deck in this meta, the deck isn't tuned well. A timely delay with Deputy of Detention can prevent it from flipping for one turn, but you need a permanent solution for it as well as for Crackling Drake.
Discussion on Lavinia, Azorius Renegade:
At first glance, this is a creature we might want. Lets examine the roll Lavinia has in certain matchups:
Vs. Mono Green Tron: Post board it prevents Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and sometimes All is Dust, but nothing else since the Karn Liberated get boarded out anyways.
Vs. Amulet Titan: It counters/prevents Summoner's Pact.
It wins against Living End and has reasonable synergy with Spell Queller. At the moment I don't think we want this card but it might be worth to consider in the future.
Down below you can find my deck list that is tuned to fight the current meta. I'm interested in your thoughts and input. Thanks!
I had originally played Knightfall when Retreat came out and I had so much fun with it, but put it down in favor of the prison decks in the format. For the past 2 weeks or so, I put the deck back together and been rolling people pretty consistently with it.
Thoughts/Things that seem to go against the status quo:
-I cut the combo entirely and built the deck more towards just out-tempo'ing your opponent. Without the Reatreat, I no longer feel the need to run a 4 color manabase and can run more interactive lands in its place. Being able to tutor up Ghost Quarter / Tectonic Edge with Knight of the Reliquary helps so many matchups (from Infect and Affinity to Control and Tron) and with Ramunap Excavator, it is easy to abuse.
-I dropped the Coursers, as while they were great against fair decks, they were almost useless against the larger field of unfair, hyper-linear decks. In its place, i was able to put Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Ramunap Excavator in the main. Thalia is an all star as she is backbreaking to aggressive creature decks as it has both first strike and disables haste/blockers while also making control and Tron misstep. Ramunap Excavator isnt the best, but it excels in the long, grindy games. Being able to recur utility likes like Ghost Quarter or Horizon Canopy is nuts. Even bringing back lands to get clues off Tireless Tracker goes a long way.
-Currently running a full playset of Spell Queller, but im not sure thats the right call. I think that 3 is the optimal number, but felt like i needed the additional flying creature. Other thoughts were Clique and Aven Mindcensor, but neither felt that great mainboard.
-Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is a force to be reckoned with. I had two in the main originally, but felt like that was excessive. Trying only one in the sideboard, but im not sure thats the right call. I think having one in the main is where you should be. Disrupting Terminus, Hollow One, Living End, Search for Tomorrow, Rift Bolt, any Tron payoff, or even spells they cast when they kill your Spell Queller is huge.
-With being as bit of a toolbox deck, i think it might be worth checking dropping a path and a creature and adding in 2 Chord of Calling to help find the one ofs that deck runs.
Went 3-1 losing to a budget ponza list and beating dredge, BG elves, and enduring ideal.
The ponza loss felt like a fluke where I got hit with blood moon early and 2 anger of the gods game 2. The last game my first land got stone rained on his 2nd turn and I didn't see my third until turn 5.
I had a dominant 2-0 victory against dredge thanks to a nuts game 1 hand with all of my mainboard disruption for dredge coming up and game 2 I had a turn 2 knight and was able to fetch up an early bojuka bog followed by the mainboard gy hate. Deputy of detention was amazing here. Game 2 the opponent had 2 narcomebas, 2 amalgrams and a bloodghast on turn 2 and I was able to deputy away the amalgrams and later on the 2 narcomebas while clearing the graveyard. I don't have a ton of experience with this matchup, but it felt great with remorseful cleric and deputy.
Game 3 I beat GB elves 2-1 winning a grindy game 1 and 3 and getting. As an elves player myself, I'm pretty familiar with the deck. I was able to queller and deputy away the good elves while having blockers up. It came down to an exalted spell queller flying in for the win in both game 1 and 3.
Game 4 was 2-1 against an enduring ideal prison deck. First game I have 2 spell quellers and opponent casts 2 prison enchantments into them and can't come back. Game 2 I kept a slower hand with great interaction, but it was too slow and I couldn't stop the lock. Game 3 was crazy close with my opponent casting enduring and playing form of the dragon only to see me flash in a spell queller and fetch a Gavony with KOTR at the end of his turn. was able to swing for lethal the following turn with an exalted spell queller that was just big enough thanks to gavony. Jace was huge here allowing me to dig for the card I needed at crucial times.
Overall all the games I played I felt favored in and deputy of detention seems amazing so far. I did not expect it to be as impactful as it has been for me and I have even dropped to 2 reflector mages because of it. It resets counters on permanents like thing in the ice or planeswalkers, destroys tokens, and does so much more.
Spell queller is still one of my favorite card and the reason I play this deck, but 3 feels better then the 4 I used to run, because I found it was often just getting bolted.
I replaced 1 path with incubation because it has more use in matchups where path is bad and late game it is a much better draw.
Eidolon is what I have decided to add to the SB for burn, storm, and phoenix. Slowing them down is huge and they usually have a hard time dealing with it because it survives bolt. We also have instant speed spells to play on their turn so this doesn't hurt us that badly.
The 2 Jaces I run are for any midrange or non interactive matchups where I will have time to brainstorm. Jace has been great in those situations and I can usually fetch a land to shuffle cards away.
I'm thinking about adding 1 lavinia to the main board and moving a voice down to the SB in place of settle the wreckage. I'm down on settle in the current meta and I agree with above that lavinia could be pretty great in some matchups.
My biggest concern right now is the tension between our come into play creatures when using Collected Company. Spell Queller plus Vendilion Clique versus Deputy of Detention and Knight of Autumn. One set asks you to interact while spells are on the stack or during their draw step. The other asks you to wait until the end of the turn to have as many targets and information available as possible. In addition, there is tension that you want to keep Knight of the Reliquary and Tireless Tracker protected by "Companying" at the end of the turn.
@hannam72's list from above is a perfect example of this tension. 3x Spell Queller versus 2x Reflector Mage, 3x Deputy of Detention, 1x Knight of Autumn. Maybe it just takes practice and obviously post board the numbers can be skewed and therefore your decisions can reflect this new number. But to me there still seems to be a way to adjust our list to be more efficient in game 1's. Do you play Spell Queller in the board for games 2 and 3? Or keep Deputy of Detention in the sideboard to mitigate this tension?
I hear you fatkiddestroyers, in game 1 Bant Knightfall has a problem to what kind of deck it wants to be - tap out or instant speed. The general rule I found is to tap out when you don't have a threat on the board and to hold back when you have one in play.
In an ealier post I said that it was hard to fit in Deputy of Detention into 4 Colour Knightfall because of the Mana requirements. I tested a lot and went down to 2 Forest and 1Plains adding another Misty Rainforest (up to 10 fetch lands) and Steam Vents. My deck version feels solid at the moment, the only major problems are Izzet Phoenix and Burn which both feel like 30/70 matchups.
My recent results were 5-2 in Bottrop League (winning against Mardu Pyro, Burn, Mono W Hatebears, Bant Spirits, Landfall Zoo, losing to Abzan Coco Flicker and 5C Humans). The other results are from Dortmund, Germany.
Last week's weekly tournament 3-1-1 (winning against Tron, Grixis DS and Budget BG Rock, lost to UR Phoenix, intent. draw against Bant Spirits)
Last week's FNM 2-2 (lost to UR Storm and Jund, won against Grixis Waste Knot and Mono B Zombies)
This week's weekly tournament 3-2 (loss against UR Phoenix and ??, winning against Nayahiri Zoo with Chalice, UR Storm , BR Hollow One/Soulflayer)
Last night's FNM 3-0-1 (winning against 3C Allies, Bring to Light Kiki-Jiki, GB Elves, intent. draw against Mono W Hatebears).
I tested against Amulet Titan and Hardened Scales, both matchups feel allright now, even with the absense of Stony Silence in the sideboard.
@fatkiddestroyers There is definitely the tension you spoke of game 1. Casting collected is no longer a given on a cast trigger because if you pull 2 creatures that target permanents instead of queller you are wasting your company. I believe it becomes matchup and board state specific and after game 1 it isn't really an issue because I commit to a side post board with the sideboard cards. In matchups where I'm bringing in counter spells or eidolon I try to play at instant speed as well as cast company on cast trigger to queller their spell.
I saw this list https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1729244#paper 5-0 and it plays 2 cliques in the sideboard. Outside of worship which I think is not very well positioned I really like this sideboard plan. It is a shame to see no jace, but the cliques can be played at instant speed(around eidolon) and the extra tracker in the sideboard gives the card advantage that jace does so that might be the right move.
I'm going to an IQ this weekend and I'll be sure to post how it goes once I settle on my list.
Humans 2-0
I was on the play game 1 with turn 1 dorks. Both games I had 1 or more KOTR get very large and had paths, deputy, and reflector to deal with the larger threats. Game 2 I grab his vial with deputy and hit his ziggurat with field of ruin taking him off black and red with 2 freebooters in hand(wouldn't have mattered much anyway as I had no instant/sorceries). I feel like this matchup is great unless they turn 2 reflector mage our dork or successfully disrupt our hand with freebooter and meddling mage.
Tron 0-2
On the draw I kept no mana dork but interactive hand with deputy, Autumn, voice, and path. I get turn 3 karned and go to game 2. I have to mull to 5, opponent kept, and ended up with tracker, path, ghost quarter and canopy. I draw into field of ruin and I'm able to grind the game out. It comes down to casting a company in response to a sylvan scrying for the last tron piece. I needed 1 of my 4 spell quellers left in my deck and I miss and get hit with ugin immediately after. After sideboard I don't hate this matchup but the mull to 5 was really disappointing and I was unable to force a 3rd game.
Izzet Pheonix 2-0
Game 1 my opponent is on the play and they bolt my bird and get a quick pheonix out. I'm able to get a turn 2 scooze that they can't deal with. My opponent isn't able to hit another pheonix for a bit and I draw paths and cocos to deal with their pheonix and thing in the ice. I'm able to win thanks to a large scooze and the interactions off the 2 cocos I get to cast. Game 2 they sideboard out 2 of their pheonixs and bring in blood moon to try and play a control game against me. They tap out early for a crackling drake which I path and go on to have answers to everything including a deputy to exile both thing in the ice so I can swing in for lethal. Game 1 was where pheonix just doesn't get there and the sideboard plan to move to a more control strategy is just wrong against our deck.
Dredge 0-2
I'm on the draw with a pretty typical hand with a dork, coco, deputy, KOTR, and lands. Unfortunately I have no graveyard hate, and my opponent is able to get the dredge engine going immidiately. I get over run quickly and have my deputy and mana dorks conflagrated. Game 2 I make a horrible mistake playing 3 mana dorks into a conflagrate. I end up stuck with a forest and botanical and a bunch of white cards in my hand and lose. I only have a little experience with dredge, but the mistake was pretty obvious as I allowed my opponent to kill 3 of my dorks all while discarding dredgers. If I don't totally blow this match I have deputy, reflectors, remorseful clerics, and scoozes in my deck to win this matchup. I don't think this is a terrible matchup, but it can be difficult to navigate and is reliant upon hitting the right interaction.
GB The Rock 2-0
This game went exactly how I want it to as I get trackers and coco in both games and out value my opponent. Opponent has a difficult time with flyers and I'm able to path his confidants. Deputy steals 2 of his goyfs for a turn and once he gets them back with summoning sickness I'm able to reflector mage 1 of them and at this point my flyers are swinging lethal. Jund has always been a close matchup, but without the red I feel like this matchup swings into our favor. I really don't mind getting hit with assassin's trophy.
Izzet Pheonix 0-2
I barely even get to play here. Both games my opponent has turn 2 double pheonix. First game he bolts my bird and I'm stuck on 2 lands for a few turns while he swings with his pheonixes. Game 2 I have a turn 1 dork and on turn 2 I have to decide whether to hold up negate or cast remorseful cleric. I decide to go with cleric because if he casts thing in the ice I would lose a crucial turn. He goes on to double gut shot my hierarch and cleric and casts faithless looting dropping to pheonixes and I attempt to recover, but can't as he gets another pheonix into play and a thing in the ice.
Game 7 my opponent decides to drop, but out of curiousity I ask him what he is playing and it UR pheonix again!
I went with 2 vendilion cliques in the sideboard over jace the mindsculptor because they pair better with eidolon and adding an extra tracker is enough for the few grindy decks in the meta. Eidolon is a great tempo card that slows down burn and pheonix as well as prevents opponent from casting the exiled spell from spell queller if they use removal. For this reason I added a 4th queller to the sideboard and a lavinia that is provides the same queller interaction while being able to help in a few other matchups. I might move lavinia to mainboard and sideboard one of the voices. I did see some hardened scales affinity, but without KCI I think 2 stony silence is a little much since there is 3 autumns, and 3 deputy to interact with artifacts.
3-3 isn't great, but I felt like I had game in all my matches besides the last pheonix match. I think without surgical or rest in piece those nuts pheonix hands are always going to be too aggressive for us. A write up like this is something new for me so I apologize if it is written poorly. I didn't write down what I boarded in/out in all my matchups and some of the details are a little blurry after a long day, but I hope you all find some use in this. Also I still haven't figured out how to properly add a decklist so if anyone cant point me in the right direction on that it would be appreciated.
Lavina's effect is too weak. Obviously, it has the chance to be a blowout, but the average case is hardly doing anything.
On the other hand, Deputy of Detention is something worth main boarding in multiples. Knightfall is really good at grinding but it can struggle against the less interactive and more aggressive decks. Deputy helps to solve that problem. Worth mentioning though, the one power is a pretty major drawback and be weary of instant speed removal on him, albeit you should be used to the removal by now with Spell Queller.
While I don't fully agree with it's numbers, I like how it plays 3x Deputy and 1x Knight of Autumn
Onto the very important topic of spoiler season. Alright, cards worth mentioning when talking about Knightfall:
Teyo, The Shieldmage - Seems Too Specific. I like having more burn hate, but I'd rather play Knight of Autumn. Hexproof does matter against Thoughtseize, but, if they're casting Thoughtseize, then I'm usually winning the late game and don't need more hate. Hexproof also matters against combo, but usually they side in an answer. Therefore, I'm not going to play him.
Vivien, Champion of the wilds - Not too sure if too cheeky, but always holding up what looks like Queller mana is stupidly strong. Plus, it can come down on turn two, provides real card advantage, and most people suck at doing Knight of the Reliquary + Vigilance math. My concern is that it has stiff competition with the one-of planeswalker in the side spot and, unlike Jace, it doesn't provide an alternative wincon. That said, turn 2 planeswalker is really worth considering.
Narset Partner of Veils - Too few targets but it does only affect opponents. I wouldn't play it by default, but there exists a small and local metagame where I would.
Dovin's Veto - Better than negate but I don't think the white cost is entirely free. Additionally, I'm not too sure that can't be countered is too relevant (or at least as relevant as it is in, for example, U/W control. Most decks side out Negate, Spell Pierce, etc as we are a mostly creature heavy deck. I'll need to think about how relevant can't be countered is compared to my ability to seamlessly have white mana, but I'll be buying some of these as I can definitely see Meta's where I want it.
Ashiok, Dream Render - Grave Hate plus search hate is powerful. I need to think more on this one, though I don't think we will be playing it as it seems just a tad too specific (and slightly competed with the tutorable Bojuka Bog)
And now for the card we really need to think about, Blast Zone. There is heavy competition for colorless lands in my deck, but, simply said, this competes for it. Obviously, we will need to do some extensive testing to learn how to use it. So, why blast zone? Firstly, it isn't a godsend. It's extremely slow and slightly clunky, it'll never deal with Chalice of the void or Tokens, and it requires a lot of mana. Why play it? Because it's a land. Horizon Canopy and Field of Ruin are secretly some of the better cards in our deck because they are tutorable and can "1-1" on a land. Even though blast zone is really awkward because it costs a lot of mana, it adds to that trend in a way few other cards can. Further testing and numbers needed
Anyone else think the new Vivien might have a spot in our deck? She gives a creature vigilance and reach which would be huge for knight so it could attack, block, and grow/ramp. She gives creatures flash which makes deputy and reflector mage significantly better. Also gives card advantage in grindy matchups. I'm thinking I might replace the 2 trackers with her and see how it goes once the new set is out
I'm interested in Lavinia, because she helps against our bad matchups (Tron and Storm are the 2 that give me the most problems usually). The fact that she interacts with quellers means that she is probably maindeckable too. + She incidentally hits many other cards (hollow one, terminus, any cascade effect, any suspend, etc).
Not too excited for tithe taker... Right now (with the meta being so fast, full of aggro and combo decks), I think our worst card is voice of resurgence. Tithe Taker just seems like a somewhat "different" version of voice (force opponent to play on their turn, replace itself with it dies. However I'd much rather have the voice token(s))
I also think voice is pretty weak right now but a 2 for 1 is still useful in a lot of the aggro creature matchups as well as the grindy matchups like jund. Its 2 blockers for 2 mana, or its eating up their removal. I could see going to 2 but would most likely never take them out of my bant list unless people stopped playing instants.
As far as matchups go what are people thinking about arclight pheonix? I won a game 1 against it and then proceeded to drop 2 at my last IQ. My opponent had 3 thing in the ice game 2 and 2 in a game 3 where the only removal I had was 1 reflector mage.
I'm still watching the meta at my LGS, and maybe the answer is going up to 3 or 4 damping spheres. Really hurts the phoenix decks, help our bad matchups (tron, storm, etc). Feels bad to board like that but IMO the meta is the meta.
I'm hoping that going up to 2 reflector mages in main and having 1 in the side with a deputy will be enough bouncing to get to path. I'm not terrified of Phoenix cause ideally I'll be swinging back with a large knight. When I played it I had 0 mages main and 2 side.
Graveyard hate seems too slow and hurts Coco with the exception of remorseful cleric imo.
A few post ago I extolled the value of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and other planeswalkers over Collected Company. Lucky for you guys I did all the testing and I was wrong. It isn't bad per see to take out the Collect Companys for planeswalkers, they are very hard to kill other than direct damage, incur great card advantage and give your deck a different avenue of attack. But, like I said I was wrong. The key in all of this is this guy:
Deputy of Detention
One of the reasons I moved to more planeswalkers was to get more removal spells into my deck. Detention Sphere, Settle the Wreckage, Dromoka's Command, and the full four Path to Exiles were helping me to win so many more games. Modern is so creature based at the moment and this suite of removal felt really good. Then I started to run into Jeskai and U/W control variants and they punched a glaring whole in my game plan. Without Collect Company I was forced to play almost entirely at sorcery speed which meant my threats, no matter how good, could be planned for, and eventually beaten. One of the draws, for me at least, to playing Bant Knightfall was the resiliency of playing against control. So many people at my LGS think they are these super blue control masters and beating them was always enjoyable. But like I said, Deputy of Detention changed everything. This card is bonkers. It is the removal I have been looking for and now allows me to go back to play the 4 Collected Companys. Deputy allows you to compete against any permanent and at instant speed thanks to Collected Company. If you are playing any number of Reflector Mages get them out of the main deck and add Deputy of Detention. The time and card it takes for your opponent to remove the Deputy is crucial to our goal in fighting fair magic. Here is my list:
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Remorseful Cleric
1 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Deputy of Detention
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
3 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
4 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Field of Ruin
1 Gavony Township
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Island
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Stony Silence
1 Unified Will
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Negate
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Worship
1 Dromoka's Command
Matchups for this beautiful pile of 75 are pretty good, especially the new Grixis Whir decks because of Deputy. Grixis Death's Shadow is always a tough match up but with three Voice of Resurgence and now the Deputy doing a much better job than Reflector Mage versus threats I am excited to go toe to toe with it more in MTGO Leagues. The match up against Burn is still abysmal. They are so spell based now that it is nearly impossible to beat them in game 1 unless you massively change the core of the deck by adding Courser of Kruphix, Knight of Autumn, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Then in game 2 they have 8 Searing Blood effects. I am hoping the Leyline of Sanctitys and Worship make this match up closer, but if the percentages continue to fall I may just give up the Burn matchup and save the sideboard slots to help versus Tron, Amulet Titan, and Izzet Drakes.
Your list looks great though and the incusion of Deputy of Detention over Reflector Mage sure is interesting.
I'd might try something like it but i go back down to 21 lands and make room for Lavinia, Azorous Renegade to combo with Queller.
On a side note.
With all the exiling going around in this particular build, what about a light black splash for some eldrazi processors?
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW
I Lightning Bolt-heavy decks, of which some include Thing in the Ice and the others rely on Searing Blaze
II big mana decks like Tron and Amulet Titan (and Valakut, that is a bit on the rise)
III Dredge/ Death's Shadow/ Hollow One/ Humans/ Bant Spirits/ Hardened Scales Affinity as the aggressive decks
IV a small portion of UW miracle and Jeskai control shells
As fatkiddestroyers pointed out before, Deputy of Detention gave us one of the best three-drops ever printed. A catch all answer, that can trade 2:1 in some cases. This card is the reason that we can handle most of the threads gathered under III. Our goal in these matchups is to get punched and grind our opponent down. Deputy of Detention being a x/3 makes it a prime target for our opponents Lightning Bolts. He shares a red flag with our other x/3 being Spell Queller, that way our opponents must choose which thread to take out first when multiples are in play. A trick I found is to avoid quelling removal spells to prevent a chain reaction of spells hitting our creatures.
To fight the bolt-heavy meta I included 2 Courser of Kruphix, they can help us grind and are a solid dork-into-three drop opening. Spellskite in the sideboard helps us to control where the Lighning Bolts are going.
So how can we handle our worst matchups, the big mana decks? (II) In game 1 our focus is to combo them out as fast as possible, because they lack removal. Our chances are slim to win game 1, so lets focus on games 2 & 3 instead.
Sideboard Plan Mono Green Tron:
What will Tron players expect? Some hate in the form of Damping Sphere and/or Stony Silence. They will likely board in Thragtusk instead of Karn Liberated and leave in Relic of Progenitus and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
On the play: In 4Mana Leak, 3Damping Sphere, 1Aven Mindcensor, 2Knight of Autumn, 1 Mirran Crusader (he does good damage and can attack through Thragtusk).
Out: 2 Scavenging Ooze, 2Courser of Kruphix, 4Path to Exile, 1Reflector Mage, 1Sejiri Steppe, 1 Tireless Tracker.
On the draw: Cut 1Retreat to Coralhelm and the last Tireless Tracker for 2Reflector Mages.
Sideboard Plan Amulet Titan:
What will Amulet players expect? Removal for Amulet of Vigor, Damping Sphere and Counterspells to some extend. I don't think bringing Knight of Autumn is worth it in this matchup. Don't fight over the amulet, concentrate on handling Cavern of Souls with your Ghost Quarter, fight over Pact of Summoning and Primeval Titan as well as other big threads they bring out of the sideboard. They usually don't win with their titans, but with their Walking Ballista follow up after the first titan that they tutor up with Tolaria West.
On the play and draw: In 4Mana Leak, 3Damping Sphere, 1Aven Mindcensor, 1 Mirran Crusader.
Out: 2 Scavenging Ooze, 2Courser of Kruphix, 1Path to Exile, 1Reflector Mage, 2 Tireless Tracker, 1 Selfless Spirit
Explanation for Mana Leak over Unified Will and Negate: I found Unified Will underwhelming in the matchup vs. Amulet Titan, that is why I rethought its position in the sideboard. One might think, that Mana Leak is a contradiction to Path to Exile, because we are ramping our opponents. The matchups where Path to Exile is needed are not the ones where we need our Mana Leak, namely vs. Combo, Big Mana and Control. Yes, when the opponent has enough mana he can afford to play around Mana Leak and it can rarely handle a flipped Terminus in the later stages of an UW match. What I like about it, is that it performs reasonably well against big mana threads and does not have the condition of having more creatures than your opponents. I strongly advise against Negate, because Primeval Titan decks will feast on you. Our matchup vs. control is already okay, don't emphasize too much on it. Our counterspells are there to bring our opponents off balance. Counter them, when they are playing around Collected Company and Spell Queller. A hard counter on a removal spell or an early thread is very useful.
The reason I deviated from the 4-color-Knightfall approach (see down below) is that it is not possible to fit Deputy of Detention in there. If you are facing less aggro and more Big Mana and Control, then 4-color-Knightfall is still the way to go in my opinion. It offers a solid aggro curve with good interaction post board. Bant Knightfall lacks the ability to aggro the opponent out in the early game, and to punish very slow draws of your opponent.
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Wild Nacatl
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Hushwing Gryff
2 Selfless Spirit
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Aven Mindcensor
3 Tireless Tracker
Enchantment
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
1 Courser of Kruphix
Land
1 Plains
3 Forest
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Collected Company
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Stony Silence
1 Worship
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Damping Sphere
1 Path to Exile
3 Unified Will
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Fiery Justice
Finally I want to talk about Lightning Bolt and Thing in the Ice. The removal spell is what you have to watch out for at all times. It is reasonable to slow roll a Knight of the Reliquary to prevent it from being bolted. On the other hand, in control and fair matchups all of our creatures have a red flag on top of their head. So your opponent will run out of Lightning Bolts eventually. I found Selfless Spirit to be a reasonable pick for the main deck. It synergizes well with Scavenging Ooze and keeps your prison creatures alive.
In the main deck you have 9 answers to Thing in the Ice with one more Reflector Mage in the sideboard. This card is the reason that I put 4 Path to Exile in the main deck. If you can't handle this deck in this meta, the deck isn't tuned well. A timely delay with Deputy of Detention can prevent it from flipping for one turn, but you need a permanent solution for it as well as for Crackling Drake.
Discussion on Lavinia, Azorius Renegade:
At first glance, this is a creature we might want. Lets examine the roll Lavinia has in certain matchups:
Vs. Mono Green Tron: Post board it prevents Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and sometimes All is Dust, but nothing else since the Karn Liberated get boarded out anyways.
Vs. Amulet Titan: It counters/prevents Summoner's Pact.
It wins against Living End and has reasonable synergy with Spell Queller. At the moment I don't think we want this card but it might be worth to consider in the future.
Down below you can find my deck list that is tuned to fight the current meta. I'm interested in your thoughts and input. Thanks!
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Deputy of Detention
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Reflector Mage
2 Selfless Spirit
4 Spell Queller
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tireless Tracker
Enchantment
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
2 Courser of Kruphix
Land
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Sejiri Steppe
1 Gavony Township
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Temple Garden
1 Plains
1 Island
3 Forest
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Breeding Pool
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Reflector Mage
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Damping Sphere
1 Spellskite
4 Mana Leak
Creatures (30)
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sefless Spirit
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Deputy of Detention
2 Tireless Tracker
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Ramunap Excavator
Instant (8)
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
Land (22)
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Gavony Township
Sideboard (15)
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Phyrexian Revoker
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
2x Negate
2x Stony Silence
1x Knight of Autumn
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Worship
I had originally played Knightfall when Retreat came out and I had so much fun with it, but put it down in favor of the prison decks in the format. For the past 2 weeks or so, I put the deck back together and been rolling people pretty consistently with it.
Thoughts/Things that seem to go against the status quo:
-I cut the combo entirely and built the deck more towards just out-tempo'ing your opponent. Without the Reatreat, I no longer feel the need to run a 4 color manabase and can run more interactive lands in its place. Being able to tutor up Ghost Quarter / Tectonic Edge with Knight of the Reliquary helps so many matchups (from Infect and Affinity to Control and Tron) and with Ramunap Excavator, it is easy to abuse.
-I dropped the Coursers, as while they were great against fair decks, they were almost useless against the larger field of unfair, hyper-linear decks. In its place, i was able to put Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Ramunap Excavator in the main. Thalia is an all star as she is backbreaking to aggressive creature decks as it has both first strike and disables haste/blockers while also making control and Tron misstep. Ramunap Excavator isnt the best, but it excels in the long, grindy games. Being able to recur utility likes like Ghost Quarter or Horizon Canopy is nuts. Even bringing back lands to get clues off Tireless Tracker goes a long way.
-Currently running a full playset of Spell Queller, but im not sure thats the right call. I think that 3 is the optimal number, but felt like i needed the additional flying creature. Other thoughts were Clique and Aven Mindcensor, but neither felt that great mainboard.
-Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is a force to be reckoned with. I had two in the main originally, but felt like that was excessive. Trying only one in the sideboard, but im not sure thats the right call. I think having one in the main is where you should be. Disrupting Terminus, Hollow One, Living End, Search for Tomorrow, Rift Bolt, any Tron payoff, or even spells they cast when they kill your Spell Queller is huge.
-With being as bit of a toolbox deck, i think it might be worth checking dropping a path and a creature and adding in 2 Chord of Calling to help find the one ofs that deck runs.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Deputy of Detention
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Reflector Mage
3 Spell Queller
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Remorseful Cleric
1 Knight of Autumn
2 Tireless Tracker
Land
4 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
1 Botanical Sanctum
1 Field of Ruin
3 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
Sorcery
1 Incubation // Incongruity
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Worship
2 Stony Silence
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Negate
2 Unified Will
1 Settle the Wreckage
Went 3-1 losing to a budget ponza list and beating dredge, BG elves, and enduring ideal.
The ponza loss felt like a fluke where I got hit with blood moon early and 2 anger of the gods game 2. The last game my first land got stone rained on his 2nd turn and I didn't see my third until turn 5.
I had a dominant 2-0 victory against dredge thanks to a nuts game 1 hand with all of my mainboard disruption for dredge coming up and game 2 I had a turn 2 knight and was able to fetch up an early bojuka bog followed by the mainboard gy hate. Deputy of detention was amazing here. Game 2 the opponent had 2 narcomebas, 2 amalgrams and a bloodghast on turn 2 and I was able to deputy away the amalgrams and later on the 2 narcomebas while clearing the graveyard. I don't have a ton of experience with this matchup, but it felt great with remorseful cleric and deputy.
Game 3 I beat GB elves 2-1 winning a grindy game 1 and 3 and getting. As an elves player myself, I'm pretty familiar with the deck. I was able to queller and deputy away the good elves while having blockers up. It came down to an exalted spell queller flying in for the win in both game 1 and 3.
Game 4 was 2-1 against an enduring ideal prison deck. First game I have 2 spell quellers and opponent casts 2 prison enchantments into them and can't come back. Game 2 I kept a slower hand with great interaction, but it was too slow and I couldn't stop the lock. Game 3 was crazy close with my opponent casting enduring and playing form of the dragon only to see me flash in a spell queller and fetch a Gavony with KOTR at the end of his turn. was able to swing for lethal the following turn with an exalted spell queller that was just big enough thanks to gavony. Jace was huge here allowing me to dig for the card I needed at crucial times.
Overall all the games I played I felt favored in and deputy of detention seems amazing so far. I did not expect it to be as impactful as it has been for me and I have even dropped to 2 reflector mages because of it. It resets counters on permanents like thing in the ice or planeswalkers, destroys tokens, and does so much more.
Spell queller is still one of my favorite card and the reason I play this deck, but 3 feels better then the 4 I used to run, because I found it was often just getting bolted.
I replaced 1 path with incubation because it has more use in matchups where path is bad and late game it is a much better draw.
Eidolon is what I have decided to add to the SB for burn, storm, and phoenix. Slowing them down is huge and they usually have a hard time dealing with it because it survives bolt. We also have instant speed spells to play on their turn so this doesn't hurt us that badly.
The 2 Jaces I run are for any midrange or non interactive matchups where I will have time to brainstorm. Jace has been great in those situations and I can usually fetch a land to shuffle cards away.
I'm thinking about adding 1 lavinia to the main board and moving a voice down to the SB in place of settle the wreckage. I'm down on settle in the current meta and I agree with above that lavinia could be pretty great in some matchups.
My biggest concern right now is the tension between our come into play creatures when using Collected Company. Spell Queller plus Vendilion Clique versus Deputy of Detention and Knight of Autumn. One set asks you to interact while spells are on the stack or during their draw step. The other asks you to wait until the end of the turn to have as many targets and information available as possible. In addition, there is tension that you want to keep Knight of the Reliquary and Tireless Tracker protected by "Companying" at the end of the turn.
@hannam72's list from above is a perfect example of this tension. 3x Spell Queller versus 2x Reflector Mage, 3x Deputy of Detention, 1x Knight of Autumn. Maybe it just takes practice and obviously post board the numbers can be skewed and therefore your decisions can reflect this new number. But to me there still seems to be a way to adjust our list to be more efficient in game 1's. Do you play Spell Queller in the board for games 2 and 3? Or keep Deputy of Detention in the sideboard to mitigate this tension?
In an ealier post I said that it was hard to fit in Deputy of Detention into 4 Colour Knightfall because of the Mana requirements. I tested a lot and went down to 2 Forest and 1Plains adding another Misty Rainforest (up to 10 fetch lands) and Steam Vents. My deck version feels solid at the moment, the only major problems are Izzet Phoenix and Burn which both feel like 30/70 matchups.
My recent results were 5-2 in Bottrop League (winning against Mardu Pyro, Burn, Mono W Hatebears, Bant Spirits, Landfall Zoo, losing to Abzan Coco Flicker and 5C Humans). The other results are from Dortmund, Germany.
Last week's weekly tournament 3-1-1 (winning against Tron, Grixis DS and Budget BG Rock, lost to UR Phoenix, intent. draw against Bant Spirits)
Last week's FNM 2-2 (lost to UR Storm and Jund, won against Grixis Waste Knot and Mono B Zombies)
This week's weekly tournament 3-2 (loss against UR Phoenix and ??, winning against Nayahiri Zoo with Chalice, UR Storm , BR Hollow One/Soulflayer)
Last night's FNM 3-0-1 (winning against 3C Allies, Bring to Light Kiki-Jiki, GB Elves, intent. draw against Mono W Hatebears).
I tested against Amulet Titan and Hardened Scales, both matchups feel allright now, even with the absense of Stony Silence in the sideboard.
I used this list:
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Deputy of Detention
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Reflector Mage
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Voice of Resurgence
2 Knight of Autumn
2 Tireless Tracker
Enchantment
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
Land
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Plains
2 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
4 Collected Company
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Reflector Mage
1 Spell Queller
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Damping Sphere
3 Mana Leak
2 Path to Exile
I saw this list https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1729244#paper 5-0 and it plays 2 cliques in the sideboard. Outside of worship which I think is not very well positioned I really like this sideboard plan. It is a shame to see no jace, but the cliques can be played at instant speed(around eidolon) and the extra tracker in the sideboard gives the card advantage that jace does so that might be the right move.
I'm going to an IQ this weekend and I'll be sure to post how it goes once I settle on my list.
Humans 2-0
I was on the play game 1 with turn 1 dorks. Both games I had 1 or more KOTR get very large and had paths, deputy, and reflector to deal with the larger threats. Game 2 I grab his vial with deputy and hit his ziggurat with field of ruin taking him off black and red with 2 freebooters in hand(wouldn't have mattered much anyway as I had no instant/sorceries). I feel like this matchup is great unless they turn 2 reflector mage our dork or successfully disrupt our hand with freebooter and meddling mage.
Tron 0-2
On the draw I kept no mana dork but interactive hand with deputy, Autumn, voice, and path. I get turn 3 karned and go to game 2. I have to mull to 5, opponent kept, and ended up with tracker, path, ghost quarter and canopy. I draw into field of ruin and I'm able to grind the game out. It comes down to casting a company in response to a sylvan scrying for the last tron piece. I needed 1 of my 4 spell quellers left in my deck and I miss and get hit with ugin immediately after. After sideboard I don't hate this matchup but the mull to 5 was really disappointing and I was unable to force a 3rd game.
Izzet Pheonix 2-0
Game 1 my opponent is on the play and they bolt my bird and get a quick pheonix out. I'm able to get a turn 2 scooze that they can't deal with. My opponent isn't able to hit another pheonix for a bit and I draw paths and cocos to deal with their pheonix and thing in the ice. I'm able to win thanks to a large scooze and the interactions off the 2 cocos I get to cast. Game 2 they sideboard out 2 of their pheonixs and bring in blood moon to try and play a control game against me. They tap out early for a crackling drake which I path and go on to have answers to everything including a deputy to exile both thing in the ice so I can swing in for lethal. Game 1 was where pheonix just doesn't get there and the sideboard plan to move to a more control strategy is just wrong against our deck.
Dredge 0-2
I'm on the draw with a pretty typical hand with a dork, coco, deputy, KOTR, and lands. Unfortunately I have no graveyard hate, and my opponent is able to get the dredge engine going immidiately. I get over run quickly and have my deputy and mana dorks conflagrated. Game 2 I make a horrible mistake playing 3 mana dorks into a conflagrate. I end up stuck with a forest and botanical and a bunch of white cards in my hand and lose. I only have a little experience with dredge, but the mistake was pretty obvious as I allowed my opponent to kill 3 of my dorks all while discarding dredgers. If I don't totally blow this match I have deputy, reflectors, remorseful clerics, and scoozes in my deck to win this matchup. I don't think this is a terrible matchup, but it can be difficult to navigate and is reliant upon hitting the right interaction.
GB The Rock 2-0
This game went exactly how I want it to as I get trackers and coco in both games and out value my opponent. Opponent has a difficult time with flyers and I'm able to path his confidants. Deputy steals 2 of his goyfs for a turn and once he gets them back with summoning sickness I'm able to reflector mage 1 of them and at this point my flyers are swinging lethal. Jund has always been a close matchup, but without the red I feel like this matchup swings into our favor. I really don't mind getting hit with assassin's trophy.
Izzet Pheonix 0-2
I barely even get to play here. Both games my opponent has turn 2 double pheonix. First game he bolts my bird and I'm stuck on 2 lands for a few turns while he swings with his pheonixes. Game 2 I have a turn 1 dork and on turn 2 I have to decide whether to hold up negate or cast remorseful cleric. I decide to go with cleric because if he casts thing in the ice I would lose a crucial turn. He goes on to double gut shot my hierarch and cleric and casts faithless looting dropping to pheonixes and I attempt to recover, but can't as he gets another pheonix into play and a thing in the ice.
Game 7 my opponent decides to drop, but out of curiousity I ask him what he is playing and it UR pheonix again!
I went with 2 vendilion cliques in the sideboard over jace the mindsculptor because they pair better with eidolon and adding an extra tracker is enough for the few grindy decks in the meta. Eidolon is a great tempo card that slows down burn and pheonix as well as prevents opponent from casting the exiled spell from spell queller if they use removal. For this reason I added a 4th queller to the sideboard and a lavinia that is provides the same queller interaction while being able to help in a few other matchups. I might move lavinia to mainboard and sideboard one of the voices. I did see some hardened scales affinity, but without KCI I think 2 stony silence is a little much since there is 3 autumns, and 3 deputy to interact with artifacts.
3-3 isn't great, but I felt like I had game in all my matches besides the last pheonix match. I think without surgical or rest in piece those nuts pheonix hands are always going to be too aggressive for us. A write up like this is something new for me so I apologize if it is written poorly. I didn't write down what I boarded in/out in all my matchups and some of the details are a little blurry after a long day, but I hope you all find some use in this. Also I still haven't figured out how to properly add a decklist so if anyone cant point me in the right direction on that it would be appreciated.
Spirits
On the other hand, Deputy of Detention is something worth main boarding in multiples. Knightfall is really good at grinding but it can struggle against the less interactive and more aggressive decks. Deputy helps to solve that problem. Worth mentioning though, the one power is a pretty major drawback and be weary of instant speed removal on him, albeit you should be used to the removal by now with Spell Queller.
Spirits
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-bant-company-73599#paper
While I don't fully agree with it's numbers, I like how it plays 3x Deputy and 1x Knight of Autumn
Onto the very important topic of spoiler season. Alright, cards worth mentioning when talking about Knightfall:
Teyo, The Shieldmage - Seems Too Specific. I like having more burn hate, but I'd rather play Knight of Autumn. Hexproof does matter against Thoughtseize, but, if they're casting Thoughtseize, then I'm usually winning the late game and don't need more hate. Hexproof also matters against combo, but usually they side in an answer. Therefore, I'm not going to play him.
Vivien, Champion of the wilds - Not too sure if too cheeky, but always holding up what looks like Queller mana is stupidly strong. Plus, it can come down on turn two, provides real card advantage, and most people suck at doing Knight of the Reliquary + Vigilance math. My concern is that it has stiff competition with the one-of planeswalker in the side spot and, unlike Jace, it doesn't provide an alternative wincon. That said, turn 2 planeswalker is really worth considering.
Narset Partner of Veils - Too few targets but it does only affect opponents. I wouldn't play it by default, but there exists a small and local metagame where I would.
Dovin's Veto - Better than negate but I don't think the white cost is entirely free. Additionally, I'm not too sure that can't be countered is too relevant (or at least as relevant as it is in, for example, U/W control. Most decks side out Negate, Spell Pierce, etc as we are a mostly creature heavy deck. I'll need to think about how relevant can't be countered is compared to my ability to seamlessly have white mana, but I'll be buying some of these as I can definitely see Meta's where I want it.
Ashiok, Dream Render - Grave Hate plus search hate is powerful. I need to think more on this one, though I don't think we will be playing it as it seems just a tad too specific (and slightly competed with the tutorable Bojuka Bog)
Dovin, Hand of control - I'm pretty sure it's a worse Thalia...
And now for the card we really need to think about, Blast Zone. There is heavy competition for colorless lands in my deck, but, simply said, this competes for it. Obviously, we will need to do some extensive testing to learn how to use it. So, why blast zone? Firstly, it isn't a godsend. It's extremely slow and slightly clunky, it'll never deal with Chalice of the void or Tokens, and it requires a lot of mana. Why play it? Because it's a land. Horizon Canopy and Field of Ruin are secretly some of the better cards in our deck because they are tutorable and can "1-1" on a land. Even though blast zone is really awkward because it costs a lot of mana, it adds to that trend in a way few other cards can. Further testing and numbers needed
Vjvjen seems at least testable. id even cut some number of CoCo for her. More versatile and lets me run Gaddock Teeg pretty well
Ive been k GW company but looking into coming to Blue
4x Voice MD is weird IMHO... ive been treaming them down one by one