Here is a decklist I have been working on in the past two months. I am planning on bringing it to SCGMINN here in two weeks. I have been fiddling with all three color varients, (Naya, Abzan, and Bant) and have settled on Bant as it seemed to have the best game against what I seemed to have the most trouble with, which was BR Hollow One and 5C Humans. This list is pretty heavy on the one of's, I know. However, I really like the feel of having a sort of maindeck sideboard so that I can handle some of the decks looking to steal a game one (Affinity, Storm) even though it most likely isn't correct to have such a high count of do nothing one of's.
I decided to go bant because I felt like it did a good job of shoring up my B/R Hollow One and humans matchups. This is because I feel that Reflector Mage and Stoic Angel do good work in these matchups. bouncing a Hollow One after they blow a bunch of discard, or a Gurmag Angler after they delve away a bunch of cards feels pretty great. Also, while Stoic seems to be a nombo with our chord, it does a great job of slowing the game down a bunch and dodging bolts for a few turns. Which I feel like in these matchups we just want to grind out to the late game as we will just get bigger than them with elementals, Thragtusk and recursion. For humans these to cards fill similar roles by bouncing creatures with excessive +1/+1 counters and preventing them from swinging all out. I also feel like coiling oracle is a better card for a lategame plan rather than 1 or two more mana dorks.
for the 1-of choices: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
This a good card in many matchups, and while it affects us too, it rarely hurts us more than it hurts our opponent
Gaddock Teeg
This is a card that I have been kinda stuck inbetween on. I want to have a maindeck answer against tron decks, and storm to a lesser extent. However, this does hurt us somewhat, and I have been thinking about moving it to the side in favor of another copy of Kitchen Finks or Voice of Resurgence. I would like some advice here.
Kataki, War's Wage
This card has been a house in testing. Against one of the staples of the format, you often can get turn 2 or 3 concessions in game one as they don't always have an answer in the main. Even if they do, when fired off at the right time, you can usually at least get it to trigger for a single upkeep before they can kill it. catching 2-4 artifacts with it even once is often backbreaking for them. Beyond Affinity, it seems to sometimes just win random games out of nowhere against other decks. While it is decent in other artifact-based match-ups, I have also pulled games off of aether vial decks by slamming it early and negate the tempo gain of the card. Easily my best bullet card.
Scavenging Ooze
Maindeck graveyard hate that holds its own in other matchups. Not much to say here.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty
This card has been pretty good for me. Can protect our combo, and provides a second Gavony effect to go big in the lategame. Can't be bounced by Restoration Angel unfortunately.
Thragtusk
Just a big value creature. Get it down against burn and they cringe a bit. Repeat its effect via Restoration Angel or Eternal witness and often they can't come back.
I am hoping for some suggestions, comments or questions on this list. I would especially love some suggestions to shore up the Storm matchup as well as some of the other combo matchups (Ad Naseum, Grishoalbrand, Scapeshift) I would also like some advice on the tron matchup and Death's shadow matchup as I have not encountered Tron once in my testing and have only played against Death's shadow one time. I wound up losing to it to what seemed like bad draws, but could have been a product of the deck construction itself.
Here is a decklist I have been working on in the past two months. I am planning on bringing it to SCGMINN here in two weeks. I have been fiddling with all three color varients, (Naya, Abzan, and Bant) and have settled on Bant as it seemed to have the best game against what I seemed to have the most trouble with, which was BR Hollow One and 5C Humans. This list is pretty heavy on the one of's, I know. However, I really like the feel of having a sort of maindeck sideboard so that I can handle some of the decks looking to steal a game one (Affinity, Storm) even though it most likely isn't correct to have such a high count of do nothing one of's.
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Wall of Roots
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Wall of Omens
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Eternal Witness
2 Reflector Mage
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Restoration Angel
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Stoic Angel
1 Thragtusk
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Chord of Calling
2 Eldritch Evolution
2 Path to Exile
Lands- 23
4 Windswept Heath
3 Temple Garden
3 Flooded Strand
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Gavony Township
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 Island
1 Path to Exile
1 Spellskite
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Reflector Mage
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Chord of Calling
I decided to go bant because I felt like it did a good job of shoring up my B/R Hollow One and humans matchups. This is because I feel that Reflector Mage and Stoic Angel do good work in these matchups. bouncing a Hollow One after they blow a bunch of discard, or a Gurmag Angler after they delve away a bunch of cards feels pretty great. Also, while Stoic seems to be a nombo with our chord, it does a great job of slowing the game down a bunch and dodging bolts for a few turns. Which I feel like in these matchups we just want to grind out to the late game as we will just get bigger than them with elementals, Thragtusk and recursion. For humans these to cards fill similar roles by bouncing creatures with excessive +1/+1 counters and preventing them from swinging all out. I also feel like coiling oracle is a better card for a lategame plan rather than 1 or two more mana dorks.
for the 1-of choices:
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
This a good card in many matchups, and while it affects us too, it rarely hurts us more than it hurts our opponent
Gaddock Teeg
This is a card that I have been kinda stuck inbetween on. I want to have a maindeck answer against tron decks, and storm to a lesser extent. However, this does hurt us somewhat, and I have been thinking about moving it to the side in favor of another copy of Kitchen Finks or Voice of Resurgence. I would like some advice here.
Kataki, War's Wage
This card has been a house in testing. Against one of the staples of the format, you often can get turn 2 or 3 concessions in game one as they don't always have an answer in the main. Even if they do, when fired off at the right time, you can usually at least get it to trigger for a single upkeep before they can kill it. catching 2-4 artifacts with it even once is often backbreaking for them. Beyond Affinity, it seems to sometimes just win random games out of nowhere against other decks. While it is decent in other artifact-based match-ups, I have also pulled games off of aether vial decks by slamming it early and negate the tempo gain of the card. Easily my best bullet card.
Scavenging Ooze
Maindeck graveyard hate that holds its own in other matchups. Not much to say here.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty
This card has been pretty good for me. Can protect our combo, and provides a second Gavony effect to go big in the lategame. Can't be bounced by Restoration Angel unfortunately.
Thragtusk
Just a big value creature. Get it down against burn and they cringe a bit. Repeat its effect via Restoration Angel or Eternal witness and often they can't come back.
I am hoping for some suggestions, comments or questions on this list. I would especially love some suggestions to shore up the Storm matchup as well as some of the other combo matchups (Ad Naseum, Grishoalbrand, Scapeshift) I would also like some advice on the tron matchup and Death's shadow matchup as I have not encountered Tron once in my testing and have only played against Death's shadow one time. I wound up losing to it to what seemed like bad draws, but could have been a product of the deck construction itself.