This past weekend at #SCGBALT I decided to
bring a brand new deck, Bant Midrange, to the tournament. I had been tuning
the deck over the last couple weeks and had originally planned to play it
at #SCGDFW, but since
that was a Team Constructed Open I audibled to Humans at the last minute as
the safer deck choice. While I did just fine with Humans, I didn’t feel
like it was the best choice for myself at the individual Modern Open, and I
wanted to go back to my trusty green and white creatures that I know so
well. This led me to breaking out the following deck this past weekend and
taking it to a respectable twelfth place finish:
Creatures (25)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Vendilion Clique
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 3 Knight of the Reliquary
- 2 Scavenging Ooze
- 2 Voice of Resurgence
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
- 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Tireless Tracker
- 3 Spell Queller
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (7)
I’ve played plenty of G/W Company on the SCG Tour over the last two years,
but this was the first time I ventured into adding a third color, so
therefore, the best place to start is to talk about the origin of the deck.
Why Bant Midrange?
Over the last few weeks we’ve seen the Modern metagame start to stabilize
with a few top decks that have been having more success than others. Humans
has emerged as the formats “best deck,” or at least the most played deck,
as of now. To compete with Humans the other top decks have either been
trying to go under it or have a ton of sweepers, which meant that going
into #SCGBALT the
decks that I thought I would play against the most fit into three camps:
Creature Aggro
-Humans
-Spirits
–Hardened Scales Affinity
Combo
-Ironworks
-Storm
Control
-U/W/x Control
With the exception of Hollow One, these aren’t the decks that I necessarily
want to be facing with G/W Company. The creature aggro decks have been
getting upgrades that have made them faster than they were in the past, and
it’s been hard for G/W Company to keep up. While there is usually plenty of
hate in the sideboard for combo decks in G/W Company I wouldn’t call the
matchups favorable, and playing against decks full of sweepers is a
nightmare. Therefore, I turned to a third color to help the deck evolve to
the new Modern metagame. I’ll explain this while I talk about some of the
new card choices.
With the creature aggro decks getting better I knew I needed a new haymaker
for those matchups. I obviously don’t want to play a traditional sweeper
considering I’ll have creatures of my own, and that lead me to playing two
copies of Settle the Wreckage. This card isn’t on everyone’s radar yet as a
maindeck inclusion, but as Patrick Chapin
pointed out earlier this week
Settle the Wreckage is finding more and more homes in Modern.
Unfortunately, playing Settle the Wreckage makes Collected Company a worse
card by lowering the creature count you’re able to play. Plus I wanted to
play more spells in my sideboard to help with the combo and control
matchups, and those two things together made me realize it was time to
shift away from Collected Company and towards new card advantage engines.
These are two of the best planeswalkers ever printed that can
single-handedly take over games where you’re allowed to untap with one of
them. They don’t have the catch-up potential when you’re behind on the
battlefield that Collected Company has, but they also don’t have much of a
fail rate either. Worst case scenario with either planeswalker is they
replace themselves and save you some life, while best case is they bury
your opponent.
Bant Midrange is built around taking advantage of these planeswalkers in a
couple of ways. The eight mana creatures allow you to reliably cast them a
turn earlier than normal control decks would be able too, and the other
creatures help protect them. They also allow you to attack control
opponents on another axis besides just creatures, and when they tap out to
deal with your creatures you can resolve a game-winning planeswalker.
This deck is built to take full advantage of Jace, the Mind Sculptor’s
Brainstorm ability with not only a ton of ways to shuffle the deck between
fetchlands, Knight of the Reliquary, and Nissa, Vastwood Seer, but Courser
of Kruphix can play a land you put back on top. That two card combination
allows you to draw three extra cards per turn. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria’s
ability to untap lands isn’t put to its best in this shell, but there is
usually something to spend the extra mana on between the eleven instant
speed spells, creature-lands, Gavony Township, Clue tokens, or Scavenging
Ooze. Teferi also allows us to interact with any type of nonland permanent
in game 1, something that G/W Company couldn’t do, and is simply too
powerful of a card not to play.
Adding blue also gives us maindeck ways to interact with the opponent’s
hand or cards they have cast and are on the stack, which automatically
improves the combo matchups. I’ve been very pleased with both of these
cards so far. Flash allows them to be played before on your opponent’s end
step before a planeswalker, baiting interaction. Many of the creature aggro
decks don’t have an abundance of interaction to remove Spell Queller from
the battlefield after it exiles a spell, and Vendilion Clique can clear a
key card away from your opponent or help you dig towards the interaction
you need.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer and Eternal Witness were easily the two worst cards in
my deck during #SCGBALT. I played
almost exclusively against creature aggro or combo decks, and therefore,
those cards got frequently sideboarded out. Eternal Witness is good against
the combo decks where you want both Negate and Surgical Extraction, but
there were too many times where I wouldn’t have a spell I’d want to return
from my graveyard and an Eternal Witness in hand. Moving forward, I would
recommend replacing these two creatures with two more copies of Voice of
Resurgence, which not only lowers the curve a slight bit but also gives me
a creature that is more impactful in a variety of matchups.
Voice of Resurgence doesn’t have as high of an upside against the U/W/x
Control decks, but it’s also much better against the creature aggro decks.
It’s the best blocker in the business for two mana, something the
planeswalkers and your life total will thank you for later. It’s also a
cheap creature that makes Dromoka’s Command better by either allowing you
to play it earlier or create a surprise large blocker by having the Voice
of Resurgence die after attackers. It’s an annoying card for the opponent
that fits perfectly on the curve before Knight of the Reliquary and then
Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and I regretted not having four in my deck all
weekend.
The only other change I’m going to make to the deck for this weekend is
removing Baneslayer Angel from the sideboard. It’s supposed to be another
card against the creature aggro decks that’s difficult for them to deal
with, but in reality it’s too expensive and clunky for the format. Humans
opponents don’t have a problem with it due to Reflector Mage, and the
Spirits and Hardened Scales Affinity decks can go over the top. B/R
Vengevine can swarm Baneslayer while having a sacrifice outlet for the
creature you do block, and it can be much too slow against Hollowed One.
Instead I’d much rather have another Dromoka’s Command which is an absolute
all-star against Humans by killing a creature and then removing a
Phantasmal Image or making a Spell Queller bigger than Mantis Rider. The
various modes are all useful against a variety of other Modern decks as
well, which leads me to this updated decklist of Bant Midrange:
Creatures (25)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Vendilion Clique
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 3 Knight of the Reliquary
- 2 Scavenging Ooze
- 4 Voice of Resurgence
- 3 Courser of Kruphix
- 1 Tireless Tracker
- 3 Spell Queller
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (7)
With the decklist now updated let’s move on to everyone’s favorite part,
the matchup guide! I’ll go over twelve of the top decks in Modern and my
plan to attack them. If there’s a matchup I didn’t mention that’s a big
part of your local metagame, let me know in the comments and I’ll help you
out!
VS Humans
Out:
In:
Scavenging Ooze is a good card in the lategame when many creatures have
died on both sides, but that’s not the kind of card you need two of against
an aggressive deck. Spell Queller doesn’t block particularly well and is
much worse if your opponent has Aether Vial, so one gets shaved. Speaking
of Spell Queller, Jace, the Mind Sculptor also lines up poorly against the
three-power flyer, and with the addition of other four-mana spells from the
sideboard we need to keep our curve low. This is also why a copy of Teferi,
Hero of Dominaria is taken out, even though it’s our best card to pull
ahead when we’ve stabilized the battlefield.
Many times when I’ve lost this matchup it’s because I’ve kept a slow hand
without a mana creature and tried to rely on landing Worship or Settle the
Wreckage, only for Kitesail Freebooter and Meddling Mage to ruin my plans.
Don’t keep any seven-card hands that don’t have a play until turn 3, even
if it has a Path to Exile and Worship in it; I’ve done it and paid the
price too many times by now.
VS Bant Spirits and U/W Spirits
Out:
In:
We have a similar sideboarding plan here to Humans, but with the extra
flyers that the Spirits decks play, we want to keep in the third Spell
Queller and cut the Tireless Tracker instead. These matchups are tougher
for us than Humans due to the flyers, but a timely Settle the Wreckage or
Worship can still go a long ways. Don’t be scared to use your removal early
when your opponent is tapped out since Rattlechains and Spell Queller can
be very problematic.
VS Hollow One
Out:
In:
VS B/R Vengevine
Out:
In:
These two matchups are the ones that will hurt us the most by removing
Baneslayer Angel from our deck, but we should still be fine. Worship isn’t
completely lights out because of Collective Brutality, but it’s possible to
protect yourselves from the sorcery with the help of Courser of Kruphix and
Knight of the Reliquary. Ususally Worship can buy you enough time to
stabilize the battlefield. Against Hollow One we want the Dromoka’s
Commands to be able to fight Grim Lavamancer and Flameblade Adept, but
against B/R Vengevine we want Engineered Explosives for the Zombie tokens
and various one-drops.
VS Hardened Scales Affinity
Out:
In:
Stony Silence is pretty obviously our best card in this matchup, so do your
best to have it survive by playing Vendilion Clique first if you have one
to take Nature’s Claim from their hand. Similarly, if you can survive until
you have five mana to be able to hold up Spell Queller to protect Stony
Silence, that is ideal as well. Use Dromoka’s Command immediately to make
your opponent sacrifice Hardened Scales, even if it’s just putting a
counter on a mana creature. I like keeping Jace, the Mind Sculptor in to be
able to Brainstorm to find more copies of our sideboard cards, and Worship
doesn’t make the cut because our opponent can kill all of our creatures
easily with a large Walking Ballista.
VS Burn
Out:
In:
I haven’t had a ton of experience with the Burn matchup yet, but I’ve been
very satisfied with this sideboard plan so far. I don’t leave in a ton of
creatures to pair with the Worships, but I think that’s just fine. Use
Dromoka’s Command to make your opponent sacrifice Eidolon of the Great
Revel if possible, or prevent the damage from a burn spell. Negate is
stellar in this matchup, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor does a wonderful job
finding more Negates while eating a burn spell or closing out the game if
your opponent brings in Ensnaring Bridge.
VS Storm
Out:
In:
VS Ironworks
Out:
In:
I bring in Engineered Explosives against Storm as a hedge against Empty the
Warrens that can also destroy their two-mana creatures. I don’t think it’s
necessary against Ironworks, but if you believe your opponent has Ensnaring
Bridge, I would bring it in over Path to Exile. Dromoka’s Command is a good
answer to Ghirapur Aether Grid which is a common sideboard card in
Ironworks, or is simply another removal spell for Sai, Master Thopterist if
your opponent goes that route. The best targets for Surgical Extraction are
Grapeshot and Krark-Clan Ironworks, respectively.
VS U/W Control
Out:
In:
VS Jeskai Control
Out:
In:
The basic gameplan of these matchups is to get ahead of your opponent on
the battlefield with your mana creatures and threats, and when the coast is
clear you can resolve a planeswalker that will take over. These matchups
are heavily favored for Bant Midrange, but not as much if you keep
one-landers like I regrettably did in games 1 and 3 of my round fifteen
camera match at #SCGBALT. If your U/W
Control opponent has many enchantments, Detention Sphere and Spreading
Seas, to go along with Search for Azcanta, feel free to leave in the two
Dromoka’s Commands over the fourth Path to Exile and a Scavenging Ooze. I
like leaving in one Path to Exile in these matchups to protect the
planeswalkers with another answer to Celestial Colonnade. Some people bring
in Lyra Dawnbringer against you, but all of your planeswalkers handle that
card just fine, and against Jeskai Control you’ll have Dromoka’s Command,
which can fight it with a Knight of the Reliquary.
The Surgical Extractions are best against the Terminus versions of U/W
Control where you can take a Terminus in their graveyard once they’ve
revealed another as their first draw step for the turn. It can also make
them shuffle after a Brainstorm from Jace, the Mind Sculptor when you’re
sure they’ve left a Terminus on top, make them shuffle after keeping a card
they need with Search for Azcanta’s ability, or stop a Snapcaster Mage all
for zero mana. You want to focus on Path to Exile, Cryptic Command, and
Terminus in these matchups; don’t Surgical other targets unless you really
need your opponent to shuffle. Surgical Extraction isn’t nearly as good
against Jeskai Control, but I’ll often times bring in one to mess up a
Snapcaster Mage when I don’t have better sideboard cards. I brought in one
in round fifteen of # SCGBALT, but the
addition of Dromoka’s Command in the sideboard gives me 60 cards I’d rather
have instead.
VS Mono-Green Tron
Out:
In:
This matchup is very bad for Bant Midrange, and I honestly didn’t play this
deck to beat Mono-Green Tron. Thankfully, Mono-Green Tron has a real
fail-rate, so you’ll win some games when they mulligan to oblivion. Besides
that Knight of the Reliquary can win games on its own, and you may get
lucky enough to Surgically Extract a Tron piece after sideboard or shut
them down with Stony Silence. This deck is built to beat control and combo
and have a decent amount of game against the creature aggro decks, but
unfortunately, the big mana decks are a real problem. If you have lots of
Tron instead of control in your local metagame, I wouldn’t recommend Bant
Midrange; instead I would recommend staying with G/W Company.
I had a blast playing Bant Midrange at #SCGBALT, finishing
11-4 and in twelfth place. Three of my losses were game 3s where I either
needed to mulligan my hand or had a play that could have won me the game,
which means I have nothing but myself to blame for not finishing in the Top
8. The deck is very powerful though and has a solid gameplan against most
of the field. I’ll be playing the above list at the two PTQ’s at #GPRichmond this
weekend, and I recommend trying it out for yourself if you like to play
defensive midrange decks as much as I do!