So. Bant Company.
Despite being over 40% last week, Bant Company was over 40% again? This is fine.
Let’s figure out how to beat this thing.
Yeah, it’s as easy as that, eh?
I didn’t say it was going to be easy; and yeah, there are a lot of paths to explore to get to that spot. I’m just saying we should be building all of our decks as Anti-Bant Company decks. This doesn’t mean building decks that only beat one thing. It means keeping Bant Company in mind every step of the way.
For instance, if we were building a Red Aggro deck, we might start start somewhere like:
Creatures (21)
- 4 Thunderbreak Regent
- 3 Lightning Berserker
- 4 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 2 Goblin Glory Chaser
- 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
- 4 Falkenrath Gorger
Lands (21)
Spells (18)
Sideboard
At its most basic, this is a fast red aggro deck that specializes in dealing three damage. It’s not just Spell Queller. Between Sylvan Advocate, Reflector Mage, Tireless Tracker, and more, Bant is overflowing with three-toughness creatures.
This list also features a lot of face damage, so that when we inevitably lose the ability to attack any further, we can try to cobble together enough burn to finish the job. I’m a little concerned that we’re not doing enough creature damage early, but it’s a reasonable starting point.
As for the sideboard, this one is obviously very biased towards fighting Bant. For instance, Weaver of Lightning:
Weaver of Lightning is underrated at the moment. It’s at its best against U/W Spirits, but it still rips apart anyone playing a nearly mono-creature deck. Besides, a 1/4 reach creature matches up pretty well with the format. Sometimes you can just establish control and eventually burn people all the way out.
Meanwhile, Rending Volley is just amazing right now…
This is exactly what we’re looking for. It’s a high-tempo play at instant speed, killing Spell Queller, Reflector Mage, and Bounding Krasis, sure; but, more importantly, it also kills Archangel Avacyn. Besides, it’s not like this is the only matchup, for the card. It’s the perfect card against White Human aggro decks and quite good against U/W Spirits.
Two important notes to keep in mind about Rending Volley vs. Bant:
- Spell Queller can exile Rending Volley, effectively countering it, despite it being uncounterable. Spell Queller wasn’t quite good enough, so it’s nice that it gets this little extra push.
- Dromoka’s Command is devastating. I’m not sure we’re really going to be able to do anything about that. I mean, are we supposed to splash blue for Dispel and/or Negate?
I’m not the biggest fan of permission in red aggro, but I am a big, big fan of Dispel, right now. The card is just amazing against Bant Company, countering two of their absolute best cards, Dromoka’s Command and Collected Company. Incidentally, those happen to be the two best cards against red aggro decks.
Creatures (21)
- 4 Thunderbreak Regent
- 4 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 1 Goblin Glory Chaser
- 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
- 4 Falkenrath Gorger
Lands (22)
Spells (17)
Sideboard
I would love sideboarding in the Dispels against Bant Company (saving the Negates for against W/B and various control decks). That said, this seems like we’re taking one of our best assets (a consistent manabase) and trading it in for marginal value. If we were going to try to do this sort of thing, maybe we could accomplish it more cleanly with Hallowed Moonlight?
Creatures (20)
- 4 Thunderbreak Regent
- 2 Lightning Berserker
- 4 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 2 Goblin Glory Chaser
- 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
- 4 Falkenrath Gorger
Lands (21)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
It’s not like splashing Needle Spires is without precedent, and keeping the deck mono-red means are mana is actually still good. Meanwhile, Hallowed Moonlight is an even bigger blowout against Bant Company, not to mention giving us extra play against tokens.
Your plan to defeat a deck full of three-toughness flash creatures is running into them with Zurgo?
When you put it that way, that doesn’t sound very attractive. Let’s try putting these Weavers of Lightning somewhere more controlling.
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (23)
- 1 Negate
- 2 Dispel
- 1 Anticipate
- 4 Draconic Roar
- 3 Fiery Impulse
- 4 Clash of Wills
- 1 Scatter to the Winds
- 1 Spell Shrivel
- 1 Epiphany at the Drownyard
- 4 Take Inventory
- 1 Fortune's Favor
Sideboard
This might seem like a lot of one-ofs, but I’m kind of interested in seeing if playing a diverse blend of card draw spells might give us an advantage the way playing a diverse mix of reactive spells does. Keeping two mana open has more implied value when our opponents have to respect Anticipate. If they do nothing, we gain an advantage. The same is true for four mana for Fortune’s Favor. If we have a mix, when we draw two, we can play them in the order and spots more appropriate.
I do like Take Inventory in a deck with this many cheap tempo plays.
Take Inventory trades some tempo early for some serious mid-game card draw potential. That we can loot it away (or mill it) means we can also get the advantage of the powered-up Takes (Take 2, Take 3, and Take 4), without having to pay the upfront cost of the first Take. That it “cycles” works great with Weaver of Lightning and Docent of Perfection.
Docent of Perfection has the superpower of costing five or more, so it can’t be Spell Quellered. Once it’s on the table, it can take over very quickly. It is vulnerable to Grasp of Darkness, but against black decks, we might try to hold it until we can cast several spells in response to the Grasp. Once it flips, it’s harder to kill.
While this list puts Take Inventory to pretty good use, I feel like we can push it a lot harder.
Shreds of Sanity is an interesting card with Take Inventory. U/R decks are quite good at getting both a sorcery and an instant into the graveyard early. Take Inventory is a nice discard, since we would have had to pay two mana to get it into our graveyard. Discarding it means the first Take Inventory we cast will draw two for two mana.
Later in games, when we’ve already played two or more Take Inventories, we can use Shreds of Sanity to get one back. Hopefully we can also get back a Fiery Temper, which we can then discard to the Shreds. Four mana to deal three damage to something and get back a two-mana draw two is a great play.
What about…
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Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (26)
Spells (25)
Shreds of Sanity is another nice target for Pyromancer’s Goggles, but it’s also nice to reduce our dependance on Tormenting Voice, since Spell Queller is so strong against it. If they Spell Queller the Tormenting Voice, you’ve got to discard another card if you want to actually get to cast it when you kill the Queller.
This list has a lot of air in it, but the hope is that we’ll cast so many Fiery Tempers and Take Inventories that we can make it up. Still, it might be a mistake, moving away from permission. We could always go the other way.
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Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (28)
Spells (23)
Spatial Contortion is excellent in the format on account of that same over-abundance of three-toughness creatures. It’s less important in a red deck, of course, since we could just play Draconic Roar. Still, it is more effective against Dromoka’s Command (though sometimes the +1/+1 counter is enough to beat Contortion). This list gets extra value out of it by using it as a follow-up to Hedron Archive.
Of course, I don’t relish the idea of playing Hedron Archive into a Bant Company player.
Maybe we’re playing the wrong Eldrazi.
Creatures (27)
- 2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
- 4 Eldrazi Mimic
- 3 Eldrazi Displacer
- 3 Reality Smasher
- 4 Thought-Knot Seer
- 4 Matter Reshaper
- 3 Elder Deep-Fiend
- 4 Spell Queller
Lands (26)
Spells (7)
Sideboard
Yeah, Spell Queller can go a lot of places. Strong card.
I could actually imagine us playing even more Titan’s Presence, as it seems good in the format for the same reasons Murder is. My concern with it here is the glut of three-cost cards.
I don’t love Eldrazi Mimic, but I would love to experiment with it alongside Elder Deep-Fiend.
In addition to blowouts in combat, Elder Deep-Fiend is another big threat that can’t be Spell Quellered, along with Reality Smasher (and Drowner of Hope, after sideboard).
Trying pretty hard, are you?
Good point. Maybe we are trying too hard. What about a tuned Spirits list?
Creatures (18)
Lands (25)
Spells (17)
It’s kind of a funny way to tune U/W Spirits, but I wonder if Spatial Contortion might be the missing link. I think the reliance on Stasis Snare (or Silkwrap) has been a serious flaw in U/W Spirits decks thus far. I think it’s just too bad to walk face-first into Dromoka’s Command when we already lose all fights without Dromoka’s Command needing to use the +1/+1 counter.
Besides, adding the colorless mana for Contortion means we can sideboard (or maindeck) Eldrazi Displacer. I like the Displacer both with and against Spell Queller, and we’re likely to sideboard it in against people where we’d want Hallowed Moonlight (ka-ka-ka-killer combo!)
Another possible direction to go with U/W is towards a more traditional control deck.
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Lands (26)
Spells (22)
Spell Queller isn’t a perfect fit with all these sweepers, but my thinking was that maybe Spell Queller is just that good. They’ll try to kill our Spell Queller anyway, and if they don’t, we’re usually gaining a pretty reasonable advantage by the delay. Worst comes to worst, we can just chump-block the turn before we sweep the battlefield.
I would love to play Stasis Snare in here, but I am trying to stay Dromoka’s Command-free. Maybe we just don’t care. I just want to be able to play a Draw-Go game. Yeah, maybe four Hallowed Moonlights and a Dispel maindeck is a bit much, but the Moonlights even cycle! There should be a lot more maindeck Moonlights, in my opinion.
Of course, once we’re talking about maindecking a million Hallowed Moonlights, maybe we’re supposed to lean into Eldrazi Displacer?
Creatures (13)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (26)
Spells (18)
Wasteland Strangler combines very nicely with Spell Queller, particularly since putting the exiled creature into their graveyard means we can Displacer our Spell Queller again without incident.
Wasteland Strangler also lines up just right against most of the threats in Bant. Shrinking toughness by three is a big deal, and we can sometimes combine it with Liliana to hunt bigger game.
What happened to not trying so hard?
Hey, I think this one could be good. It’s got powerful cards that work well together and line up well against the format. Yeah, it’s going to take a little tuning, but this one could be the start of something special.
You said it, not me.
Fine. Here’s a more “traditional” control deck:
Creatures (9)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (27)
Spells (21)
Getting to use Liliana, the Last Hope is a big plus, as that is the second-best card in the set by my estimation. Languish is pretty nice right now, too.
Dragonlord Ojutai can’t be Reflector Maged, nor Spell Quellered, so at least that’s something. I just worry that expensive main-phase threats are a dangerous way to go. Besides, I don’t love the mana that goes along with trying to support Grasp of Darkness and Silumgar’s Scorn. Maybe it’s fine, but we should strive to do better.
For instance, do we actually need white? After all, we’re not even playing the best white card (Spell Queller).
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Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (26)
Spells (20)
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. I love, love, love pushing Liliana. I’m telling you, she’s the secret to the format. She’s our only chance. She’s going to save us. She’s got to.
She’s our last hope.
I’m not so sure about this one. We’ll get delirium reasonably reliably, sure, but we’re still just drawing three. It’s worth trying, but it’s also not out of the question to just use Dragonlord’s Prerogative.
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Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (27)
Spells (20)
Yeah, that’s kind of a lot of sixes, isn’t it. I’m just worried that we’re not going to be able to close out the game. Duskwatch Recruiter can really take over in a hurry, and it’s not like we’re actually countering Collected Company all that often.
You know who would close out a game, fast?
Ahhhhh, Grixis!
Indeed.
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Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (26)
Spells (20)
I could definitely see myself behind the wheel of something like this. I especially like that Liliana, the Last Hope has a lot of great targets, and that she combines with stuff like Kolaghan’s Command to control things she normally wouldn’t mess with.
I also like that the manabase isn’t embarrassing, though I do wish we could support more permission. We’re little heavy on threes, so maybe we should trim a Liliana, but she looks awesome here.
I’m guessing you’re gonna need at least three more discard spells in the 75.
Oh? And what are you proposing we cut to make room?
If I knew, don’t you think you’d be the one saying it, instead of me?
Fair.
I guess, one thing that’s obvious is that it’s not going to be easy to build a blue control deck that lines up right against Bant Company while still being strong enough to beat the countless random decks we’ll have to slog through along the way.
You know, maybe blue is the trap. Here’s a slight tweak to Sam Jakimovski’s B/W Midrange deck:
Creatures (2)
Planeswalkers (10)
Lands (26)
Spells (22)
It’s not reinventing the wheel or anything, but I could imagine this sideboard plan giving us enough of what’s good about W/B Angels while the maindeck blanks most of the removal people are playing. We might be unnecessarily walking into Grasp of Darkness, but I just hate having zero creatures for Liliana.
Oath of Liliana is sweet. I’m not sure how many planeswalkers you need to make it worth it, but it’s really not that many. Maybe eight? It’s more about not wanting too many threes.
You know, if we’re looking for better creatures to Liliana back, we could look at Zack Kanner’s Abzan list from this past weekend’s #SCGBALT.
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (10)
Lands (26)
Spells (14)
Splashing green for Sylvan Advocate, Den Protector, Nissa, and her Oath is interesting. I do love having lots of creature-lands, though. Besides, this list makes much better use of Liliana, the Last Hope. That said, he put the best card in the sideboard.
Keep an eye on this card. We’ve only seen the beginning of the Spider invasion to come.
Speaking of Ishkanah, Grafwidow decks…
Creatures (18)
- 1 Elvish Visionary
- 4 Den Protector
- 2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Bounding Krasis
- 1 Hangarback Walker
- 1 Void Grafter
- 1 Emrakul, the Promised End
- 1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 4 Noose Constrictor
Planeswalkers (2)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
Okay, Corey wins the weekend for coolest deck. I particularly like the Noose Constrictors for value.
Game 1, it blocks (yeah, reach!). After sideboarding, it helps with the transformational beatdown plan!
As cool as it is, staying U/G, I think I’d have to splash black to support the activated ability of the extra copies of Ishkanah, Grafwidow I’m adding the first chance I get. He’s even got Kiora, Master of Depths to help enable delirium!
This is a helluva planeswalker to protect when we’re sitting behind a Noose Constrictor, ensuring we don’t get hit by a flash creature by surprise.
Obviously this is the card that has everyone talking, but I’m not sold. I appreciate that it dodges Spell Queller, plus it works great against a Spell Queller that already got something. I just question the interaction against Reflector Mage. I might be asking a lot out of our fives, but Ishkanah is legal. We deserve better.
I’m going to keep working on figuring out the right response to this format, but if nothing else, we could always go back to the winning recipe from last season and tune it for the new world.
Or we could just rely on Osyp to do it for us.
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Planeswalkers (8)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
Osyp conquered this weekend’s Open, ripping apart Bant Company after Bant Company deck, including three more in the top four. His secret?
Well, he’s just incredible at Magic.
However, he also had a little help from his sick Tragic Arrogance technology.
Tragic Arrogance is a super sweeper that’s too big to Spell Queller, yet also dodges Selfless Spirit and Archangel Avacyn (unlike Planar Outburst). We started seeing an uptick of Tragic Arrogance last week. Osyp just took it to the extreme.
And was rewarded with a trophy for his troubles.
See? A super-good player won with super-good technology.
This is fine.
See you Wednesday.