Is Bant Heroic Broken?

Dromoka’s Command is an unfair Magic card.

Filthy. Gross. Disgusting. Like when a basketball player effortlessly leaps over someone’s head for a slam dunk. “Kill your guy. And one!”

I ran Bant Heroic to a top 8 finish at the Standard Open in Syracuse this past weekend. Even though I auto-piloted myself into some missed triggers and
felt like the deck was off by about seven cards maindeck, the raw strength of the deck got me to the elimination rounds.

This is what my first take at Bant Heroic looked like.

And here’s the updated list:

Dromoka’s Command is clearly a powerful card and a clear inclusion for decks like Abzan Aggro, and sometimes, Abzan Midrange/Control. With the focus of
Standard on three-color wedges like Abzan, it doesn’t seem like there’s much that a G/W card can be paired with.

Well how about W/U Heroic? We’ve seen a third color work for Heroic in the Jeskai build with Temur Battle Rage so it seemed empirically possible. During my
nine-hour trip from Roanoke, VA to Syracuse, NY this weekend with Todd Anderson, Chris VanMeter, and Stephen Horne I had more than enough time to daydream
myself into reasonably formulated ideas surrounding the possibility of Dromoka’s Command in W/U Heroic. The challenge was to have it be a complementary
card to the deck without being shoehorned in.

What does Dromoka’s Command do for the Deck?

In short? Everything.

But more specifically….

It is the Removal Spell that Heroic has Always Needed

Heroic has never had much in terms of interaction against the opponent. The best it had a long time ago was Singing Bell Strike or Glare of Heresy against
specific permanents. When Valorous Stance came along, it seemed like Heroic finally had a versatile removal spell that also worked with the protection
theme of the deck. In practice I found neither mode efficient enough. With Dragons of Tarkir, the first card to jump out at me was Pacifism – a card that
the archetype was long missing as a removal target for Heliod’s Pilgrim. Standard right now, however, is full of value creatures that either have static
abilities like Courser of Kruphix or Goblin Rabblemaster, one with enters the battlefield effects like Siege Rhino, or something with hexproof like
Silumgar, the Drifting Death or Dragonlord Ojutai.

It’s a Cheap Way to Target Two Heroic Creatures

There have been cards previously that were custom built to target two heroic creatures: Warrior’s Lesson, Triton Tactics, Launch the Fleet, and the entire
strive cycle. The power levels on those cards was low since you’d often be gaining value from heroic, thus putting them into a camp that were conditionally
good but came at the cost of not having all the moving parts just right and being very weak on their own.

This subtle interaction is really what pushes Dromoka’s Command from “great” to “busted” in Heroic. Much like how both Pack Rat and Mutavault were great
cards on their own, their synergistic pairing was simply free value, no questions asked. The goal of any deck is to somehow get all the pieces to fall
together naturally without having to work too hard.

It Solves Problem Enchantments

Courser of Kruphix, Jeskai Ascendancy, Outpost Siege, Whip of Erebos, Mastery of the Unseen. Heck, sometimes people will show up with a God like Keranos,
God of Storms for you to nab.

And what if you get stuck with spells in hand with no creatures? Check out the last line of the Ordeals.

In a pinch you can cast an Ordeal on an opponent’s creature then target yourself to sacrifice it. This can gain you ten life to survive another turn or two
cards as a means to cycle Ordeal of Thassa and Dromoka’s Command. You do need another mode, so you would need to do it at a time there’s an instant or
sorcery on the stack (that’s not the same Dromoka’s Command) or give one of your opponent’s creatures a +1/+1 counter. A corner case option for sure, but
more options is never a bad thing. As a side note this also makes your deck pretty good against opposing Dromoka’s Commands.

You Fight with Very Good Fighters.

Heroic creatures tend to get large enough naturally to survive most fights. However, Favored Hoplite is the best fighter around given that all damage will
be prevented to it upon targeting. This allows you to block and fight another creature and live through the damage of both, or to stop a damage-based
removal spell on it while still killing another creature. Oh, and you also get another mode with Dromoka’s Command when you’re doing that, which is
basically a two-mana three-for-one.

Seeker of the Way is another great fighter. Nothing is better than being attacked by a Mantis Rider only to untap, fight it with a 4/4 lifelink creature
then attack for another four, gaining eight life in the process. Huge lifegain bursts like this is what allows the deck to play well from behind, compete
with Mono-Red Aggro, and to play four Mana Confluences and eight fetchlands without worry of dropping too low on life.

Why/Why Not [This Card]?

It took a while to come to the conclusion to cut Battlewise Hoplite. It’s the only card that requires blue mana early and really puts a strain on your
fetchlands to find appropriate mana early. This means that Windswept Heath needs to fetch Plains, while Flooded Strand fetches Island. Because the Flooded
Strand couldn’t find a Forest, I was having games where I couldn’t cast Dromoka’s Command even though I drew one of my “mana sources.”

What strains the mana even more is when you need to hold up mana for Gods Willing after casting Battlewise Hoplite, which requires exactly UWW to pull off.
This means even when you start on Temple of Enlightenment and Plains you sometimes still have to crack Windswept Heath for a second Plains.

Monastery Mentor was an extremely hyped card that never quite found a Standard home. It’s fragile and requires a healthy number of spells to keep the ball
rolling once it’s in play. In a world of Wild Slash and Bile Blight I can see why it’s been seeing little play.

Bant Heroic is the perfect shell for Monastery Mentor. Yes, everyone has removal, but you have plenty of early creatures with huge targets on their heads
to bite the bullet before Monastery Mentor hits. With four Gods Willing and two Ajani’s Presence it’s easy to wait until turn 4 to play it with protection.

This card is great. You want a concentration of early creatures to get the most value out of Dromoka’s Command possibly targeting two of your creatures. It
blocks very well in the games you’re behind and survives early removal spells from Wild Slash to Lightning Strike to Bile Blight.

A leftover from previous W/U Heroic builds. Before you needed a good way to get past a wall of blockers, specifically when they had creatures of multiple
colors that you couldn’t get past with only one Gods Willing effect. Scrying was also a very crucial component since you’d want to bottom your lands and
extra heroic creatures to string together spells.

Now the deck does three things well that make Aqueous Form no longer necessary:

– You’re better at removing their problem blockers with Dromoka’s Command.

– You’re better at drawing cards with Treasure Cruise, making card selection less of an issue.

– You’re better at going around blockers by going wide with Monastery Mentor.

In Syracuse I was sideboarding Aqueous Form out against every matchup that wasn’t Green Devotion, which happened to be every single time. For now I like
them in the sideboard for that matchup, specifically while keeping its maindeck return in mind if Devotion becomes popular again.

Center Soul was a key piece in Joe Lossett’s winning Jeskai Heroic deck from the Standard Open in Richmond. He
said good things about the card, and I wanted to give it a try, albeit as a one-of. Throughout the tournament I was wishing my one copy was an Ajani’s
Presence instead.

Center Soul works well as a precursor to Temur Battle Rage as a means to preemptively give your creature effective unblockability, then set up an a double
strike attack for the full amount. However, with Aqueous Form and a sideboard plan that included Monastery Mentor, the extra color protection wasn’t as
important, and another one-cost protection spell was something the deck desperately wanted.

Ajani’s Presence has strive, which like Dromoka’s Command, can boost two heroic creatures at once. With a higher land count and moving towards more real
card draw and less card selection, you tend to have more lands in play during the midgame. It’s also a one-cost protection spell to protect a turn 4
Monastery Mentor.

There are more destroy effects to worry about now that there are two wraths in Crux of Fate and End Hostilities, and having protection against the -3 of
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is sweet. With more sets brings cheaper removal, and more and more copies of Ultimate Price and Valorous Stance are popping up.
We’re seeing a decline in Jeskai Charm, Utter End, and even Abzan Charm.

Normally a mainstay in the sideboards of white decks against other white decks. Glare of Heresy is great against all the Siege Rhino decks and even more so
against the creatures Abzan Aggro throws at you. The logic behind not playing any here is that opposing white creatures are either A. Small or B. Also
green. With the printing of Encase in Ice as an instant-speed answer to the bigger G/W threats, the need for Glare of Heresy has lessened. WIth Dromoka’s
Command around to deal with white enchantments, you now have enough answers without the narrow sorcery.

Here are a few examples of how I sideboard in the common matchups. Note that this guide isn’t set in stone, and hopefully the sideboard has the tools you
want for a given situation. For example, if they have a lot of discard, you might want more copies of Treasure Cruise; or if they’re particularly low on
removal, you want to take out creatures and keep all the Ordeals.

VS Abzan Aggro

Their creatures are quick and have sizeable stats, and they have a decent amount of disruption and removal. Your best edge here is their manabase, which
sometimes doesn’t come together, is slow with tapped lands, or deals them a ton of damage. All combat is on the ground, and your creatures can out-size
them quickly. You have a tempo advantage on the play where you don’t need Ordeal of Heliod to race, and you want to keep in your card draw spells to fight
their attrition game of removal and discard.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Abzan Midrange

Any deck with Courser of Kruphix allows Dromoka’s Command to shine. They can’t really pressure your life total quickly and will aim to contain your
creatures and take over with planeswalkers.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Mono-Red Aggro

This is the matchup where Favored Hoplite and Lagonna-Band Trailblazer work very well on defense. You don’t want to attack at all until you’ve stabilized
the ground well and are at a healthy life total. They have dash creatures including Goblin Heelcutter so it’s best to play conservatively. If they are
splashing green for Atarka’s Command, be wary of them turning off your lifegain from Seeker of the Way and Ordeal of Heliod. This may mean you wait to pop
Ordeal of Heliod until you force them to tap below two mana on their turn.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS G/R Aggro

The biggest factors in this matchup are if they have a turn 1 Elvish Mystic and how aggressive their three-drop is. Van Nguyen destroyed me in the swiss of
Syracuse on the back of Fanatic of Xenagos before I could establish a board. Stormbreath Dragon is tough to beat, but if all goes to plan they’ll have to
hold it back on defense, giving you more time to further your plan. Encase in Ice works wonders here and is especially good when it only costs one because
of Hero of Iroas. It’s a bit awkward that Stormbreath Dragon can still monstrous, and Thunderbreak Regent’s effect remains active, but it’s still a very
strong tempo play.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Bigger G/R Aggro

This is referring to Chris VanMeter’s winning deck from Syracuse.
It’s a Courser of Kruphix deck, so you have more time to construct your gameplan against them than versus other G/R variants. He mentioned in his article this week that Heroic is one matchup he dreads to face and
that he dodged it during the tournament. I only wish I could’ve faced him in the semifinals to settle the matchup then and there. If they have a bunch of
Hornet Nests, consider bringing in the Aqueous Forms.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS U/B Control

Your creatures come down early, and their removal tends to be expensive, like Hero’s Downfall. You go toe-to-toe with their card advantage with cheaper
cards like Ordeal of Thassa and Treasure Cruise. After sideboard your deck is full of counterspells and card advantage, and you end up beating them at
their own game.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Jeskai Aggro

Goblin Rabblemaster and Mantis Rider and friends. They have cheap burn spells and creatures and are very capable of getting ahead before you gain momentum.
However, Dromoka’s Command is now here to save the day. You can remove Mantis Rider game 1, leaving them battling on the ground, where you have homefield
advantage.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Jeskai Tokens

Maindeck Dromoka’s Command is a nightmare for them since they basically can’t win without Jeskai Ascendancy. Your creatures get out of burn range quickly,
and their swarm of 1/1s are stopped by your team of 1/2s and 2/2s. If they’re on the “creatureless” build with a bunch of token-makers, Stubborn Denial
becomes extremely effective. Since Stubborn Denial is a similar effect to Gods Willing, this is a matchup where you can shave those.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Green Devotion

This has traditionally been a good matchup for Heroic. In fact, when Khans of Tarkir was first released, Green Devotion was the deck that transferred best
into the new Standard and quickly became the deck to beat; the reason I started playing W/U Heroic in Standard in the first place. Your maindeck is geared
more toward beating a wider field now, and you’re low on evasive elements, but the matchup remains decent. This is where Aqueous Form and the enchantment
removal of Dromoka’s Command really shine. Because they have very limited removal for your creatures, you can afford to sideboard out some without worry.
While Encase in Ice seems like an auto-inclusion against a deck with all green creatures, none of them outside of the mana accelerants are completely
turned off when they stay tapped. Additionally, those creatures stay in play for devotion, so it doesn’t do all that much to slow them down.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Temur Aggro

Although I did lose to Temur in the quarterfinals of Syracuse, I still consider the matchup to be favorable. Frost Walker dies to almost any spell in our
deck, and they’re prone to awkward mana draws. After sideboard they have Stubborn Denial, so be careful not to run right into it if you don’t have to.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

VS Heroic

The dreaded mirror match. Often the first to pop an Ordeal of Thassa wins in this matchup. Neither player has much removal, so the protection effects are
less important. This is a matchup where you’d want Glare of Heresy, but there aren’t really other matchups I want them, so if the mirror becomes popular,
I’d want two in the sideboard. Currently, however, many don’t believe this archetype is good. I expect anyone playing Heroic to crush Pro Tour Dragons of
Tarkir filled with Abzan and control decks.

Out (On the Play):

In (On the Play):

Out (On the Draw):

In (On the Draw):

Is Bant Heroic Broken?

When I think of the word “broken,” one question comes to mind: “Did the designers intend for this to happen?” I don’t think the side effect of having two
of your own targets and how that plays with heroic was a factor in Dromoka’s Command’s design. Nor do I think they intended for people to be sacrificing
their own auras for value. As of now, Bant Heroic is playing out very well in testing, so much that I consider it the be far above the rest of the decks in
the field. Last night I watched Todd Anderson 4-0 a Magic Online Daily Event rather convincingly.

Time will tell how strong Bant Heroic actually is. Perhaps once people learn to play around what it’s capable of, it won’t be as potent. Perhaps only
players like myself, Joe Lossett, Steve Mann, and Logan Mize can win with it. Or perhaps it just looks too terrible on paper for people to give it its due
credit.

In any case I’ll be playing Bant Heroic in Spring States this weekend where I will not be playing for the title of Louisiana’s State Champion.
Let’s see if Bant Heroic can get me the title in different one.