Rank 40 Bant Mid-Range

[Lawdini]

I am ranked 40 for Origins and all four expansions so far, This Bant deck is by far my best deck (out of 30) and is currently holding strong against other 40-ranked decks including RW Vehicles, 3 or 4-color Planeswalkers, Tutelage, U/R Burn, etc. I am sharing the love. Suggestions/discussion welcome.

Creatures (25)

1x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2x Selfless Spirit
4x Elvish Visionary
2x Sylvan Advocate
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2x Bygone Bishop
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2x Tireless Tracker
2x Spell Queller
3x Reflector Mage
1x Archangel Avacyn
1x Verdurous Gearhulk
1x Cloudblazer
1x Skyshround Sovereign
1x Torrential Gearhulk

Spells (12)

3x Essence Flux
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Declaration in Stone
2x Collective Effort
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Tamiyo, Field Researcher

Lands (23)

2x Lumbering Falls
2x Prairie Stream
2x Hinterland Harbor
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Evolving Wilds
6x Plains
5x Forest
2x Island

The Essence Flux is incredible with the Gearhulks, Queller, Reflector Mage, Cloudblazer, Avacyn and even the Visonary in a pinch. I tried Displace and Acrobatic Manuever but at 3 mana they were too slow. This deck generates a lot of card draw and can hold the ground and sky until the deck really starts to soar at around turn 6.

Have fun with it.

[New.Speciez.Feces]

seems like a decent deck but it dies to burn.

[Reyggor]

Obviously the deck works since you've hit 40 with it consistently, just suprised that there is no Bound Krasis in the deck, assuming it was in prior builds at some stage what did you swap it out for?

[Lawdini]

Цитата допису Reyggor:

Obviously the deck works since you've hit 40 with it consistently, just suprised that there is no Bound Krasis in the deck, assuming it was in prior builds at some stage what did you swap it out for?

I've used Krasis in the past but there was no room for him here. Also I swapped out the Bishops for Smuggler's Copter instead. Great early game play obv.

[Lawdini]

Цитата допису New.Speciez.Feces:

seems like a decent deck but it dies to burn.

I beat Dynavolt burn pretty consistently. Too many threats keep coming. R/B Vamps is one of the worst matchups just because of the speed of that deck. But once they play their first 7 they are topdecking the rest of the game, when I can catch up. Blessed Alliance obv helps against burn and aggro.

[Wavekid]

if you run copters consider adding 1 drops to curve out

[Demigod Dan]

Цитата допису New.Speciez.Feces:

seems like a decent deck but it dies to burn.

Yep almost a carbon copy of my deck. Seems OP is just lucky with the opponents he faces tbh, whenever I play this my matchups all magically change to R/B aggro instantly. There aren't enough cards in there to deal with their early game btw so you either get lucky and have 1 or 2 in your hand early or you just die.

And 23 lands you know, eh...ehhh...for me that would mean 2 mulligans where I start with 2 or less lands in hand and only getting the 3rd+ land at card #12 or so while also being stuck with mainly 3+ cost cards 9 out of 10 games. You know, when your opponent has pretty much won the game already. Not that my luck is that much better with 24 lands, but still. Pretty sad how luck reliant the ranking system in this game is tbh, be glad that you don't have such issues while running 23 lands OP. Saves you a lot of hair pulling.

Edit: unless I'm missing it on the list, you should really be running atleast 1 Reclamation Sage to make further use of Flux. Never been fond of Origin Nissa so I'd drop either that or another 3 cost that you dislike more than her. But yeah post-Cancerdesh Sage is too good to not put in the deck you're running, try it out.

[Lawdini]

@ mund: Thanks for stopping by. Bant is fun but you definintely need to know what card to pay when. I would try an easier deck such as R/W Pilots or a R/B Vampire deck. Good luck and thanks for the comment.

[Povis]

1x Skyshround Sovereign what is this card? cant find it in game

[illuknisaa]

Цитата допису povis:

1x Skyshround Sovereign what is this card? cant find it in game

Its the legendary vehicle.

Why run jace? I've been playing with esper control and baby jace has been a massive disappointment due to heavy removal being present in almost every deck. Even if you get flip jace there is almost nothing worth to flashback due to ♥♥♥♥♥♥ copter and friends.

[nextturn07]

In addition to the Reclamation Sage suggestion above, I'd recommend trying Eldrazi Displacer (Essence Flux on a stick)... you do need a <> mana source to active the flicker effect... which can easily be given by Drownyard Temple... a great pitch card for the Looter Scooters you've added (and then you can bring it back from the graveyard with its auto-ramp ability).

[Povis]

Цитата допису illuknisaa:

Its the legendary vehicle.

I can guess that, but the name of this card is Skysovereign, Consul Flagship not
Skyshround Sovereign

[Flacido Domingo]

I've seen Eldrazi Displacer used in a similar setup for good effect, though it's quite problematic to ensure that you'll have colorless mana on time. It is of course a trade-off of early game speed vs. later game awesomeness.

Instead of the suggested Drownyard Temple, I'd rather use Crumbling Vestiges, Aether Hubs to keep with the tempo, or perhaps something like this:

1x Wastes
3-4x Evolving Wilds
1x Warped Landscape

With such a toolbox approach to creatures (especially if reclamation sages are added), I recommend giving Eldritch Evolution a go.
I didn't do a lot of serious testing on this, but from what I saw, I seldom had open mana to pop clues from Bygone Bishop, and whenever I drew Sylvan Advocate, I'd rather see something else in that spot. I know he's good, but I didn't feel like he gets along well with the rest of the deck.

[Flacido Domingo]

Цитата допису mund:

Hi folks...
You always have a chance to win against disadvantage but that requires from my experience the SpellQueller at the right time (for example against Turn 4 Chandra or Tutelage anything else annoying).

Essence Flux is of course also a keycard but I need Spell Queller and Reflector Mage for consistency (and you cannot count to have the three when you really need them). Everything else is a nice addition but it doesn't help much against the difficult matchups from my point of view.

In my opinion just two "counterspells" isn't enough to save you against key cards. I would either drop the Spell Quellers completely, or make note which other spells aren't pulling their weight and replace them with a buch of Scatter to the Winds or Insubstantiates.

When it comes to Essence Flux, it's only as good as the comes into play ability you have down on the board. This is why an Eldrazi Displacer was suggested above, as it comes with a beatdown-ready vital stats. It is likewise important to ensure that there are enough useful comes into play abilities in the deck to make the most out of it, and for this reason I am viewing every creature without one as a potential candidate for replacement.

Still have to find Planeswalkerremoval but I guess then you either don't meet them or you just don't draw it when you need it.

Not a lot of good options in this color combination. Best you can do is a counterspell and maybe disperse (this is a temporary solution, but with aggro control you often only need one more turn).
I kinda like to include a single Rogue Passage, one unblockable creature can often ping a bothersome planeswalker in a few turns.

I also don't understand why Jace and Copters are so important. They never help me win and when I make use of them I don't need them anyway.

Jace is a lot of things, he gives you card advantage, removes a blocker, eats up an attack or two, and can seal the game for you with the ultimate ability. You want Jace in your aggro control deck.

Copters are mostly just good for filtering unwanted lands. With two copies you can't really rely on them to save you from every mana screw, but they're nice to have. Also, they tend to stay at the table after most board sweeps, so when you topdeck a creature, it's ready to hit for 3.
And those hits for 3 quickly add up.

Although it's fine to replace them with something you consider more essential for the deck.
As an exercise, whenever you draw a Copter, think of which different card you'd rather have at the moment.

[Protectron]

When it comes to decks like this (Bant mid-tempo), it is important to be aware that:

1. It is not faster than pure aggro decks like RB Vampires or RW vehicles or WW.
2. It does not have as much late-game power as control decks, Ramp and some other archetypes.

So what it -CAN- do is to set up a clock that steadily ticks away while stalling the opponent just enough to win in both case #1 and #2.

So what you want in a tempo deck like this is to play turn 1 or 2 creatures to set the opponent on an unpleasant countdown and then protect that board position with counterspells, bounce, various trickery and removal. At least the way I see it.

Here is a decklist doing just that. I'm not saying in any way that it is better than yours, but if you go back and analyze how you won when you did win, maybe it was most commonly by doing precisely the same thing I do?

2 Selfless Spirit
2 Rattlechains
2 Sylvan Advocate
3 Skyrider Elf
2 Thalia, Heretic Kathar
2 Spell Queller
2 Reflector Mage
3 Bounding Krasis
2 Void Grafter
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Scatter to the Winds
4 Spell Shrivel
3 Glimmer of Genious
1 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

3 Plains
4 Island
3 Forest
2 Lumbering Falls
2 Canopy Vista
2 Praerie Stream
2 Hinterland Harbor
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Evolving Wilds

A problem I noticed is that a whooping 17 cards costs 3 mana, so very often the deck can only play 1 spell per turn until I have 5-6 mana. I consider taking out a 3cc spell or two and add more mana.

[Kel'Thuzad]

No-one cares that you're rank 40. Rank is meaningless in this game.
I've had rank 39 opponents get a free pass to 40 just because i got mana screwed. And conversely I've been denied rank 40 for the same reason (repeatedly).

There's as much luck involved as deck/skill.