This weekend, I attended Grand Prix Quebec City, where I played Bant Tokens and failed to make day two. I lost to Abzan, partially because I used a spell
in combat in a spot when I should have waited, which allowed my opponent to act after me rather than the other way around, then I lost a mirror match to
Shahar. In the last round, I failed to play my third land on turn 3 in either of the last two games. Excuses, I suppose, but sometimes one leaves a
tournament and realizes their deck choice was certainly bad, and other times, it’s less clear. This is a time when it was less clear.
Unfortunately, less clear isn’t “confident I was right,” which is where I had been after the Pro Tour. I updated my deck a little, so for reference, this
is what I played:
Creatures (17)
- 1 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Elvish Visionary
- 3 Wingmate Roc
- 4 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Archangel of Tithes
- 4 Hangarback Walker
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
The changes from my deck at the Pro Tour were designed to lower the curve to stop opponents from getting under me–I added two-drops in Elvish Visionary
and Knight of the White Orchid, and an Archangel of Tithes, which is harder to cast than the other four-mana spells but which plays better when your
opponent is ahead on board. I also cut one Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, one Retreat to Emeria, and one Secure the Wastes. Cutting one of each of my big token
cards makes the deck play like much less of a combo deck, which I’m not sure I like.
In the sideboard, I added a Jaddi Offshoot over the fourth Surge of Righteousness to lower the curve against aggressive red decks–I bring in a lot of
two-mana plays, which are great against them, but the games are often just about playing cards as fast as possible, and being able to make a high impact
play for one mana can make a bigger difference than having a card that is theoretically stronger against them. I also replaced Oblivion Sower with
Dragonlord Dromoka, which seemed like it might be better in a wider range of matchups, though I’m really not sure which is the better sideboard card.
Moving forward, there are a lot of things I want to try.
First, the biggest threat I need to adjust to is the potential presence of Eldrazi Ramp decks. If these decks continue to do well, my current configuration
will do horribly against them, and that will be a problem. One potential saving grace is that I think the card Infinite Obliteration becomes a huge problem
for these ramp decks if they get too popular, which might put a cap on their metagame presence. However, for next week, there’s the possibility that
players get on board before others prepare for them, and it has a big week.
If I’m interested in having any game against Eldrazi Ramp decks with G/W, I need to maximize my ability to finish the game with Retreat to Emeria, not
minimize it. So for next week, I think at the very least I’d want the fourth Retreat to Emeria in my deck before I wanted the first Archangel of Tithes.
During testing for the Pro Tour, we eventually started cutting Hangarback Walker from all of our decks because all of our decks played Silkwrap. I decided
to play Hangarback Walker at the Pro Tour because it’s a powerful card that fit the deck well, and I didn’t know if everyone else would also have Silkwrap.
Moving forward, it’s possible that Hangarback Walker isn’t where you want to be. The best reason to play it is that it’s good against Jeskai Black, which
has few ways to exile it, but that might not be enough of a reason.
In my experience, Bant Tokens has been very good against Jeskai Black, which is an important part of the strength of Bant Tokens in this metagame, as
there’s solid evidence that Jeskai Black is the deck to beat. Most changes I’d consider to Bant Tokens have the potential to hurt that matchup, so
I need to test to figure out whether I can afford to make these concessions there while still maintaining a positive matchup, or if the cost is too high.
If Hangarback Walker can always be ignored or exiled, it might be better for my two different two-mana creatures to be Elvish Visionary and Knight of the
White Orchid, which can both provide value when they enter the battlefield, hedging against exile effects like Silkwrap and minimizing the potency of
Anafenza, the Foremost.
The other cheap creature that I’m interested in is Warden of the First Tree. Warden of the First Tree helps enable aggressive draws that might be important
to beating Eldrazi Ramp decks and offers a large, early board presence that might help buy time against decks that are trying to go under you. It’s also a
card that fits well with the general gameplan of accumulating lands on the battlefield, as this deck could certainly take advantage of it in the lategame.
The concern is that playing a creature like this that doesn’t offer value right away makes a card that would be very bad against Bant Tokens, like Fiery
Impulse, very good instead, so that could potentially swing the matchup for Jeskai Black in a very big way.
Another card to look at is Dispel, which is one of the best cards against Jeskai Black, but if we can find ways to beat them without it, it might not be
worth it, especially if we’re concerned about Eldrazi Ramp where it literally doesn’t do anything. If we cut Dispel, there are a few different ways we
could go–we could cut blue entirely, which makes the mana a little smoother, which is important if we’re thinking about adding cards like Warden of the
First Tree and Knight of the White Orchid, or even just an additional Blighted Woodland, or we could move blue to the sideboard if we think we need access
to Dispel, or we could swap it for Negate, which would turn our worst card against Eldrazi Ramp into one of our best cards against them. I’m not sure which
direction is right.
I think I like the idea of trying something like this:
Creatures (15)
- 2 Knight of the White Orchid
- 4 Elvish Visionary
- 3 Wingmate Roc
- 2 Warden of the First Tree
- 4 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (15)
This is more similar to the deck that I played at the Pro Tour, but Warden of the First Tree replaces Dispel, and I’ve cut four Hangarback Walkers for a
Blighted Woodland, an Elvish Visionary, and two Knight of the White Orchids. Cutting Dispel allows me to play more basic lands, which makes the second
Blighted Woodland better, and makes it much more likely that I can play an untapped land every turn of the game, which makes Warden of the First Tree a lot
more powerful than it would be if I were still splashing blue.
Cutting Hangarback Walker might be a step too far, but I’ve hedged somewhat by adding two of them to the sideboard so they can come in against decks that
are weak against them like Jeskai Black, where they can accompany Evolutionary Leap, which they play extremely well with, and they can generally replace
Knight of the White Orchid when I’m going to be on the play. (An alternate approach would be to play the two Hangarback Walkers main and two Knight of the
White Orchids in the sideboard, and substitute the other way when I know I’ll be on the draw.)
I suspect that this build will still be slow enough to be substantially disadvantaged against Eldrazi Ramp, but I think this gives me the best chance. Turn
5 Ugin is very hard to beat, but first, they don’t always have it, and second, I can win from no board with an end of turn Secure the Wastes followed by a
Retreat to Emeria on my turn, so I can potentially play as a combo deck and just try to build up to that before they kill me.
Losing Dispel is a real cost. In addition to being among the best cards against Jeskai Black, it can be very important for beating the Rally the Ancestors
decks, which can always be a difficult matchup for G/W; however, there is a chance that pushing the more streamlined combo approach could turn out to be
the better way to steal games against them anyway.
I’d like to end with a quick sideboarding guide for the list above. In general, I don’t really like sideboard guides–I think it’s important to be able to
adjust on the fly based on how the first game played out, what you think your opponent expects, and exactly which cards they have, rather than roughly what
archetype they’re playing. However, I know that when picking up a new deck, it can be really important to have someone who has experience with the deck
direct you to which cards of cards are reasonable to consider cutting. So, I’ll offer a guide to the best of my ability, but the less pressure you feel to
follow it to the letter, the more useful it may be.
VS Jeskai Black
Against Jeskai Black, you want to cut Warden of the First Tree. Some portion of Jeskai Black players will cut all or almost all of their spot removal
against you, but it’s hard for them to cut enough that I’d want Warden of the First Tree, which will generally be a liability. Some might approach things
differently and leave most of it in, in which case Warden of the First Tree would be even worse. I’d also definitely cut Knight of the White Orchid if I’ll
be on the play, but leave it in on the draw. Gideon is the opposite, it’s much better on the play than it is on the draw. I think Wingmate Roc is important
against them, as it beats Mantis Rider. Sometimes, I like to cut Wingmate Roc against Ojutai’s Command, but Jeskai Black can’t really afford to sit on
Ojutai’s Command against you because all of your other big plays aren’t creatures, and the upside to resolving it in this matchup is huge. I often find
myself cutting Retreat to Emeria and Secure the Wastes–sometimes they’ll have Dispel in their deck after sideboarding, and sometimes they’ll have
Disdainful Stroke, and either of those are good against Secure the Wastes. I want to try to minimize my enchantments so that I can beat Felidar Cub, but I
can’t really afford to cut Silkwrap because their cheap creatures are so important, and important to exile.
I generally add 2-3 Surge of Righteousness because answering Mantis Rider is so important, and sometimes it kills Tasigur, Dragonmaster Outcast if your
opponent is careless, Thunderbreak Regent if your opponent is playing them, or a Dragon token. If I know my opponent has Thunderbreak Regent, I’ll probably
want all three Surge of Righteousness and maybe even a Valorous Stance.
To get to the point, I’d expect to do something like:
Out (on the play):
In (on the play):
Out (on the draw):
In (on the draw):
VS Abzan
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar matches up very poorly against the combination of Anafenza, the Foremost and a removal spell or Warden of the First Tree, or Den
Protector and Dromoka’s Command, so I think it’s best to move away from it. Secure the Wastes has trouble really outclassing the large creatures in Abzan,
so it’s not the high impact card you need it to be. After sideboarding, you’re really trying to treat them as an aggro deck, answer all of their threats,
and beat them with Nissa, Vastwood Seer.
Out (on the play):
In (on the play):
Out (on the draw):
In (on the draw):
VS. G/W Megamorph
Dromoka’s Command is likely to perform well in this matchup because you don’t have Hangarback Walker, so making them sacrifice an enchantment will often
get you a creature. Quarantine Field is powerful, but a little slow and a big liability if they have Erase. When I was testing for the PT, I felt like I
had a good matchup against G/W Megamorph, but it’s felt a lot worse since then. I think the change was that I wasn’t splashing blue when I was testing it
before the PT, and I think the blue splash slows things down just enough to be a problem. I expect the fundamental gameplan of trying to go wide and pump
my team to be where I want to be in this matchup. Note that if they have Archangel of Tithes, you definitely want to make room for Valorous Stance.
Out (on the play):
In (on the play):
Out (on the draw):
In (on the draw):
VS. Esper Control
You have to leave one Knight of the White Orchid in on the play, but that should be fine because they’ll never miss a land drop, so if you draw it late,
you might be able to get a land out of it, and early, the 2/2 is a serviceable attacker. Stasis Snare is actually good, since it answers Jace and the
Dragonlords they bring in, and then you want to split your other removal so that you can answer both of those threats. Evolutionary Leap is outstanding in
this matchup, as are your four-mana white threats.
Out (on the play):
In (on the play):
Out (on the draw):
In (on the draw):
VS Red Aggro
I’m not sure if Dromoka’s Command is better or worse than Planar Outburst, and whether you want zero, one, or two Valorous Stance will depend on exactly
what their deck is. In addition to killing Monastery Swiftspear with a pump spell, anything with Become Immense, or Snapping Gnarlid with a fetchland,
Valorous Stance hedges against Thunderbreak Regent, which some of the red decks will side in. Similarly, Dromoka’s Command hedges against Outpost Siege.
Out:
In:
This should give you an idea of how I approach sideboarding with this deck. Basically, I tend to move away from some of the token stuff and bring in Den
Protector against almost everyone. As is often the case, the reason Den Protector is in the sideboard instead of the maindeck despite this is that it’s
just a better card after sideboarding than it is before against everyone, so while I want it against everyone after sideboarding, I’d actually want it
against very few opponents in the first game.
I’m not sure that this is the right direction to move this deck or that this is the right week to play this deck, but I hope to find out in time to make a
strong showing at Grand Prix Indianapolis this weekend.