Maveric78f
01-14-2010, 04:06 AM
Disclaimer
This opening post is mostly a translation of the opening post of the same thread in a french forum made by the creator of the deck (Frédéric Perez). For a better understanding, I changed "I" with "Fred" and I also did not translate the parts that I did not agree at all. However, there remain some parts that I don't fully agree. You'll probably understand well with my second post that explains what I'm playing right now.
Bant Loam: the established deck
Table of Contents
Introduction and Background Information
An established deck
Genesis
The deck
The List
Card Choices
Main Deck : other possibilities
Side-board: some ideas
Matchup Analysis
An established deck
For those who wonder why this deck is posted into the "established deck" area, the reason is simple: the list makes results since it has been created, a lot actually given the fact it has not been played a lot, and with different pilots. All these results were made in France. You can start bitching about how bad the french metagame is, but the reality is that it has performed only in France because it is the only place where it has been played. The first results were made by its creator Frédéric Perez (not me) during April/May 2009. He played it at the BOM3 but he faced too many aggro loam to expect doing anything. Long story short, Frédéric Perez had a lot of success fast and he made top4 4 times (in tourneys of average 30-50 people) until July. Then, a bunch of players (including me) were seduced by the list and performed in tourney also in several top4. But the biggest performances of the deck are definitely since mid-October. The first was a win at a 112-player tournament in Bourgoin-Jallieu, placed another Bant Loam list in top8 (and I made 9th, first eliminated with a laregely inpired black version of Bant Loam). And the second was another win at the GP side-event with 161 people (here I did 2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss, 1 drop with a classic Bant Loam list). The only time the deck has been played out of France, it finished 10th at the Ovino with near 300 people. In France, we class this deck in the deck to beat area.
Genesis
Last year, Fred worked on a tempoloam URg with stifles, wastes, loam, fire.ice, countryside crusher, tarmos... because he liked a lot the waste/loam + stifle synergy, because intuition was a tutor for the lands and the creatures (as opposed to Burning Wish), and because stifle owned Deed, which was quite hype at this time.
He finally was not convinced by this deck which alternated huge games with awful ones and because it was too much colour requiring (and there was no ZEN fetches at this time), and most of all it had only the tempo game plan. It was fast overruned in long games. Eventually, it was weaker than Canadian Thresh and Aggro Loam, and he decided not to insist.
As soon as Knight of the Reliquary has been spoilered, it was clear for him that it would be the cornerstone of this new deck. It's Terravore + Crop Rotation (-evasion). Here started the idea of a loam deck in the Bant colours with intuition, maybe crop rotation and a land toolbox in the Eternal Garden way.
Then, the Bant creatures (Qasali Pridemage, Rhox War Monk, Noble Hierarch) enabled to choose a different game plan given the game state, because they are all multitask, from aggro to heavy control.
This deck is finally a good summary of the legacy evolution these last years, gathering good old spells (Intuition, Swords to Plowshares, The Tabernacle of Pendrel Vale, Maze of Ith, Wasteland) with good new creatures (Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, Noble Hierarch, Qasali Pridemage) and some new mechanics of recursion (retrace, dredge, planeswalker).
The deck
The deck is difficult to play with, and difficult to play against, first of all because (or thanks to) its versatility. Not only we have the choice of various game plans in a single MU, but these game plans are different depending of your opening hand. As a consequence, you have to know well all the deck mechanisms to foresee which game plan is optimal. Not always obvious. A lot of players will have the bad reflex to play it as a control deck, simply because it can endorse this role. But often, the best call is to play turn 1 qasali off mox diamond and play noble hierarch only after just to deal 3 more damages on turn 2.
Usually, the deck prefers to put the opponent on pressure early (either on mana denial or on fast beaters). Then, once you've made your opponent waste his hand to deal with your early game, you can start the card advantage and heavy control plan. It's a bit what my sport teacher said about the Cooper test (12 minutes to run the most distance you can): start fast, keep your rhythm high, and sprint in the end. On the contrary to me, the deck can really handle this kind of versatility.
The list
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Tropical Island
1 Savannah (or 2)
2 Tundra (or 1)
1 Plains
1 Forest
4 Wasteland
1 Mishra's Factory
3 Tranquil Thicket
1 Secluded Steppe
3 Mox Diamond
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Cenn's Enlistment
1 Eternal Witness
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Maze of Ith
4 Swords to plowshares
3 Stifle
1 Rushing river
2 Life from the loam
2 Intuition (or 3)
1 Crop rotation (or 0)
Card choices
Mana base
7 Fetches: Well, at first glance, one can think that 7 fetches for 7 targets is really short in a loam deck, but actually it is not. The first reason is that the first land drop you want to make is often forest then plains. Then, because during the aggro or aggro/tempo game plan it is important to have lands in graveyard for Knight of the Reliquary. It also good to purify the deck quite fast with Knight of the Reliquary/
2 Tropical island, 1 Savanah, 2 Tundra, 1 Plains, 1 Forest: It is the usual configuration but in a Merfolk metagame, where you don't want to play islands 1 Tundra and 2 Savannah is a better split.
4 Wasteland: It's good either with loam, with Knight of the Reliquary as mana denial or again with Knight of the Reliquary to give it +3/+3 as a blocker..
1 Mishra's factory: good here as the only recursive beater.
Cycling lands: instant boost for knight, draw engine with loam. You all understands this, I guess.
3 Mox, 3 hierarch: Why only 3 of each? Here is the simple answer: you want 2 mox in opening hand only if you have 2 lands + life from the loam (rare) or 3 lands + intuition (very rare). So in most cases, it's awful. Quite the same reasoning can be made with 2 noble hierarch en main de départ. Although, you'll like 1 Hierarch and 1 Mox.
As fast mana, these slots enable to insist on the tempo game plan. It is also usually a good call to avoid daze. You can play a turn 2 daze-proof Qasali quite easily against countertop, or to keep open mana for cycling, stifle or swords to plowshare.
As a colour fixer, these slots make mana denial strategies very weak against this deck and make us confidant about fetching basics. Another important thing is the fact that the deck can survive easily without playing any island.
Individually, these cards are in synergy with the rest of the deck: Mox Diamond is excellent with Life from the Loam and it boosts knight, while Hierrarch is exalted and serves as a protection against edict like removal (Warren Weirding, Gatekeeper of Malakir). don't forget the strength of an aggro start Hierarch + Qasali. It's real aggro.
The body of the deck:
4 Knight of the Reliquary: the cornerstone of the deck. It's strange that legacy players do not play it more. This card is very good as aggro (almost always at least a 4/4 for 3). It's also very good as a control card, as a strong blocker and a crop rotation on legs (Maze, Tabernacle, Mishra, Wasteland). It can also enable some tricks or generate a mana to fight daze. It's not good because you want to do it, it's good because you can do it. And we won't insist on the various combat tricks in attack or in block. It can also get rid of islands against Merfolk or forests in anticipation to Submerge.
4 Tarmogoyf: Fast and big aggro card. Also good as control. Actually in this deck, the aggro plan is most of all supported by an exalted creature and either Knight is better at that or Qasali can also take this role. So that Tarmogoyf remains often in defense to block the opposing aggro mode.
4 Qasali Pridemage: Another card that can take different game roles. First, excellent in the role of an exalted weenie creature. At worst it's a watchwolf. Its exaltation enables use also to attack with Tarmogoyf and win the Goyf war. Great against countertop in a deck that plays 6 fast mana cards.These first roles are the main reasons why Fred plays 4 of them, even if its ability to get rid of more random (but numerous) cards such as Confinement, Moat, Crucible,... is very reassuring. It also forces the RR and deed players to play and crack them directly, which is often a problem against Bant Loam that plays so much mana denial. Qasali is also good at protecting our graveyard (the main grave hate are Leyline of the Void, Planar Void, Relic of Progenitus, Tormod's Crypt).
3 Elspeth, Knight Errant: Another serious contender of the deck. Impressive as in the aggro mode (knight 10/10 flying, but also qasali 6/6 or 7/7 flying). It's also great against control which can't deal with everything. As it is generally the last card we play we can hope it won't be counterspelled and once in play it's just the nightmare of the control player. Another nice aspect is that it generally pass through Counterbalance. So it's good as an aggressive tool, but don't forget how good it is as a control element. You get 1 chumpblocker per turn. In the worst situations, it earns you 2 or 3 fogs. Its ultimate is scary too even if we generally kill before it can be played. The ultimate is even better with the nex Tabernacle oracle (that says destroy instead of sacrifice). It's played as a 3-of because we want to be able to play intuition on it and because it's rearely a bad card.
1 Eternal Witness: First of all, no, witness is not here for intuitionning on a card that you have only *2. It's not forbidden to use it like this though. The main reason it's here it's because it's like a tutor in the deck. It's also a great topdeck.
1 Cenn's Enlistment: we used to play Worm Harvest during a long time but I suggested in august to give a try to Cenn's Enlistment. The reasons are: you don't always have lands in graveyard, it's 1CC less, it's easier to have W that GGG, it passes thought counterbalance more easily, it can attack through Elephant Grass and it does not die to Perish (very important). Once again it finds some use in different ways: it's difficult to deal with for control, it's also a chumpblocker factory. Its reduced mana cost makes it usable in gob, where Worm Harvest is really really difficult to play.
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale: everybody knows this card. It's extremely powerful. In this deck it can be double edged sometimes. You have to decide when you need it. This card particularly shines in the tribal, elfball and Ichorid MU. It's also good at preventing your opponent fro mplaying spells while you hold the board. As said earlier, its oracle text has changed and now indestructibility provided by Elspeth makes your creatures immune to Tabernacle. The idea is definitely not to topdeck this card but to find it when you need it.
1 Maze of Ith: this card is really awesome. We can untap a creature that has attacked and dealt its damage at the end combat step, either to block, or to use the knight ability (or both).
4 Swords to plowshares: I think you got it.
3 Stifle: This slot has been debated a lot. It's another versatile card. Its main use is for mana denial of course but it's also a defense against sweepers such as explosives and deed. It also protects your own mana base from opposing wastes. It helps against storm, it plays tempo against jitte, shackles or vial. A good tech to fizzle ultimate of planeswalkers. It can save also a spell against countertop. Post SB, it owns the best grave hate spells: relic and tormod.
1 Rushing River: Another good topdeck. It provides a temporary solution to everything.
2 Life from the loam: Life from the Loam serves several game plans in the deck: waste lock, fight against opposing mana denial, retrace, intuition piles, CA with cycling lands. However, it is rarely game plan number 1. It's just here to provide plan B to the deck.
2 Intuition: Here again, two main utilities: tutors 3 times for a direct threat in order to kill fast. Or build strong life from the loam stacks and tutors for 3 cards at once at instant speed. It can also boost your creatures with knight in play make a pile with 1 life from the loam and 2*tranquil thicket you're sure to give it +2/+2. The same with tarmogoyf, you generally can tutor stuff to make it +1/+1 or +2/+2.
1 Crop rotation: it's another instant speed tutor, but a cheap one that serves also other purposes: gives from +1/+1 to +3/+3 to knight.
Main Deck: other possibilities
Fred tested a lot of other options. Some were far-fetched (Bant Charm, Wild Mongrel, Waterfront Bouncer), some were good cards but did not fit the deck (Oblivion ring, Rafiq), some are options that he still considers feasible. Here are some:
"Control" version of Bant Loam: this list had some results (top8ed the 112 players tournament in Bourgoin Jallieu). Calling it control is an exaggeration. Let's basically say it's a slightly more control version. The biggest difference is the insertion of the academy ruins + engineered explosives + sensei's divining top in the list. It's still not clear what MU it helps since we already beat control decks with the retrace spell and Elspeth. Maybe it gives another option to get rid of counterbalance, if not set too early. Against Merfolk it can also be a winner. If you choose to follow this variant Trinket Mage can really be good (even if it's not included in the list usually). Fred used to play academy ruins+EE but he was not satisfied by them eventually.
Cunning Wish: tested in replacement of Elspeth. Cunning Wish on Berserk as a bit the same use as aggro Elspeth (kill fast) but it's far more fragile: sensible to creature removal. Elspeth was preferred for 2 reasons: it's better against control and because the blue cards are limited as far as possible.
Trygon Predator: it's very good. In replacement of Qasali probably, but the problem is this one: Trygon Predator is better with exalted. Fred would like to find 1 slot for it MD.
Jotun Grunt MD: Grunt is really good in the deck. Tarmogoyf was preferred because it's easier to play 4 tarmo than 4 Jotun. A split 2-2 is really possible, but the problem we could see is that Jotun is not good as a blocker (because it won't block eternally). As an aggro card it can end the game really fast with exalted and Elspeth.
Spell Pierce MD: In replacement of Stifle. This choice is extensively debated later when I present my list.
Kitchen Finks: if your metagame is full of burn, sligh, gob and zoo, then you must play it. It's big and resilient with exaltation. It's good as a blocker. It's just a bit weak compared to other 3CC cards in the deck. It's played *2 MD in the control version.
Splash B: at its start the deck had a double splash ub. Volrath's Stronghold was sexy and Fleshbag Marauder, Darkblast, Stinkweed Imp looked like good options. And B is also agood colour for the SB. But eventually, the mana base was really difficult. The best if you want to play B, then drop U. That's what I played at the 112 people event, with entomb playing the role of intuition, dark confidant replacing numerically the stifle and MD darkblast, top*3, ... The list had a lot of differences with this one actually. Finally, I dropped it because Dark confidant was not that good and because plague in SB were not that hot neither. I was a bit disappointed by the list, especially in the tribal MU which was the reason why I made it in the first place.
Lorescale Coatl: simply awful in the deck. Serves nothing. No evasion, too long to be big (we don't have counterbalance to wait, nor brainstorm to speed up its growth).
Side-board: some ideas
The slots are always moving and highly metagame dependant.
2 (3) Burrenton Forge-Tender: against burn, zoo, gob, aggro loam and Ichorid's bridges (I recall that it does not target so that you can sacrifice it without any red source to prevent).
2 (3) Meddling Mage: against combo, of course. Don't dream, the ANT or TES MUs are too difficult for it to be credible, but against other comboes (Natural Order, enchantress, Painter, Scepter Chant,…). It's entered in a lot of MU because it cuts game breaking spells (humility, perish, …).
1 Gaddock Teeg: a bit the same as Meddling Mage.
2 (1) Engineered explosives: against merfolk, Ichorid, Chalice.dec, mirror, aggroloam, enchantress, elves.
1 Stifle: It's likely that this slot will be replaced with Spell Pierces but it was a good option against combo and MUs where you want your mana denial to be efficient.
1 Path to exile: against aggro, dreadnought.dec, merfolk, elves, aggroloam.
1 Mox diamond: in order to boost the first turns. Against combo, obviously but also Dragon Stompy (to help to have coloured mana) and Aggro Loam.
2 Jotun Grunt: when you want to deal with your opponent's graveyard. Aggro Loam, mirror, survival, Ichorid, good against Ad Nauseam too, since it hits strong fast and prevent them to reach threshold for cabal ritual or play the IGG plan too easily.
1 Enlightened tutor: with a enchantment/artifact toolbox. We tend to dislike it these last days because it makes card disadvantage and it's not combo with intuition.
1 Ethersworn cannonist: against storm and enchantress.
1 COP red: against burn, gob and Progenitus (can buy you some turns, the time your opponent finds a solution).
1 Worship: it used to be good in a lot of red MUs, but now qasali is everywhere and it's a bit weaker. It was also a bit too slow in a lot of cases.
1 (2) Tormod's crypt: Against Ichorid (buys you some time) and reanimator (even if it's not a complete solution since Exhume + Imp enables to dodge it).
1 Propaganda/Ghostly prison: Really good but not to forget that it does not protect Eslpeth. You often enter it in MUs where Elspeth is too slow (Ichorid, tribal).
1 Dueling grounds: it comboes nicely with Maze of Ith, Exaltation, Elspeth. However I don't see in which MUs it's better than Propaganda.
3 (4) Spell Pierce: if you don't play it MD, you can play them in SB.
Even if he wants to leave his enlightened tutor toolbox, Fred's last SB was: 2 burrenton forge-tender, 2 MM, 1 ethersworn cannonist, 1 Gaddock Teeg, 2 EE, 1 Stifle, 1 Path to exile, 1 Mox diamond, 1 Jotun Grunt, 1 Enlightnened tutor, 1 COP Red, 1 Tormod's crypt.
If he'd make a tourney without any precise idea of the metagame, he'd play with: 1 Mox diamond, 3 (4?) spell Pierce, 2 (3?) Meddling Mage, 1 (2?) engineered explosives, 1 Path to exile, 2 Ethersworn cannonist, 2 Jotun Grunt, 2 Burrenton Forge-tender, 1(0?) Dueling grounds
Match-ups analysis
In fast, ANT and TES are really awful. Aggro Loam, Reanimator and Survival/Natural Order are negative too. Humility Landstill is quite balanced, the same about Gobs with Perish. Ugr countertop goyf is balanced too. The rest ranges from slightly positive to very positive (the best one is Tempo Thresh). I will describe them in later posts on the basis of my version of the deck (which is obviously far better ;-).
This opening post is mostly a translation of the opening post of the same thread in a french forum made by the creator of the deck (Frédéric Perez). For a better understanding, I changed "I" with "Fred" and I also did not translate the parts that I did not agree at all. However, there remain some parts that I don't fully agree. You'll probably understand well with my second post that explains what I'm playing right now.
Bant Loam: the established deck
Table of Contents
Introduction and Background Information
An established deck
Genesis
The deck
The List
Card Choices
Main Deck : other possibilities
Side-board: some ideas
Matchup Analysis
An established deck
For those who wonder why this deck is posted into the "established deck" area, the reason is simple: the list makes results since it has been created, a lot actually given the fact it has not been played a lot, and with different pilots. All these results were made in France. You can start bitching about how bad the french metagame is, but the reality is that it has performed only in France because it is the only place where it has been played. The first results were made by its creator Frédéric Perez (not me) during April/May 2009. He played it at the BOM3 but he faced too many aggro loam to expect doing anything. Long story short, Frédéric Perez had a lot of success fast and he made top4 4 times (in tourneys of average 30-50 people) until July. Then, a bunch of players (including me) were seduced by the list and performed in tourney also in several top4. But the biggest performances of the deck are definitely since mid-October. The first was a win at a 112-player tournament in Bourgoin-Jallieu, placed another Bant Loam list in top8 (and I made 9th, first eliminated with a laregely inpired black version of Bant Loam). And the second was another win at the GP side-event with 161 people (here I did 2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss, 1 drop with a classic Bant Loam list). The only time the deck has been played out of France, it finished 10th at the Ovino with near 300 people. In France, we class this deck in the deck to beat area.
Genesis
Last year, Fred worked on a tempoloam URg with stifles, wastes, loam, fire.ice, countryside crusher, tarmos... because he liked a lot the waste/loam + stifle synergy, because intuition was a tutor for the lands and the creatures (as opposed to Burning Wish), and because stifle owned Deed, which was quite hype at this time.
He finally was not convinced by this deck which alternated huge games with awful ones and because it was too much colour requiring (and there was no ZEN fetches at this time), and most of all it had only the tempo game plan. It was fast overruned in long games. Eventually, it was weaker than Canadian Thresh and Aggro Loam, and he decided not to insist.
As soon as Knight of the Reliquary has been spoilered, it was clear for him that it would be the cornerstone of this new deck. It's Terravore + Crop Rotation (-evasion). Here started the idea of a loam deck in the Bant colours with intuition, maybe crop rotation and a land toolbox in the Eternal Garden way.
Then, the Bant creatures (Qasali Pridemage, Rhox War Monk, Noble Hierarch) enabled to choose a different game plan given the game state, because they are all multitask, from aggro to heavy control.
This deck is finally a good summary of the legacy evolution these last years, gathering good old spells (Intuition, Swords to Plowshares, The Tabernacle of Pendrel Vale, Maze of Ith, Wasteland) with good new creatures (Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, Noble Hierarch, Qasali Pridemage) and some new mechanics of recursion (retrace, dredge, planeswalker).
The deck
The deck is difficult to play with, and difficult to play against, first of all because (or thanks to) its versatility. Not only we have the choice of various game plans in a single MU, but these game plans are different depending of your opening hand. As a consequence, you have to know well all the deck mechanisms to foresee which game plan is optimal. Not always obvious. A lot of players will have the bad reflex to play it as a control deck, simply because it can endorse this role. But often, the best call is to play turn 1 qasali off mox diamond and play noble hierarch only after just to deal 3 more damages on turn 2.
Usually, the deck prefers to put the opponent on pressure early (either on mana denial or on fast beaters). Then, once you've made your opponent waste his hand to deal with your early game, you can start the card advantage and heavy control plan. It's a bit what my sport teacher said about the Cooper test (12 minutes to run the most distance you can): start fast, keep your rhythm high, and sprint in the end. On the contrary to me, the deck can really handle this kind of versatility.
The list
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Tropical Island
1 Savannah (or 2)
2 Tundra (or 1)
1 Plains
1 Forest
4 Wasteland
1 Mishra's Factory
3 Tranquil Thicket
1 Secluded Steppe
3 Mox Diamond
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Elspeth, Knight Errant
1 Cenn's Enlistment
1 Eternal Witness
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Maze of Ith
4 Swords to plowshares
3 Stifle
1 Rushing river
2 Life from the loam
2 Intuition (or 3)
1 Crop rotation (or 0)
Card choices
Mana base
7 Fetches: Well, at first glance, one can think that 7 fetches for 7 targets is really short in a loam deck, but actually it is not. The first reason is that the first land drop you want to make is often forest then plains. Then, because during the aggro or aggro/tempo game plan it is important to have lands in graveyard for Knight of the Reliquary. It also good to purify the deck quite fast with Knight of the Reliquary/
2 Tropical island, 1 Savanah, 2 Tundra, 1 Plains, 1 Forest: It is the usual configuration but in a Merfolk metagame, where you don't want to play islands 1 Tundra and 2 Savannah is a better split.
4 Wasteland: It's good either with loam, with Knight of the Reliquary as mana denial or again with Knight of the Reliquary to give it +3/+3 as a blocker..
1 Mishra's factory: good here as the only recursive beater.
Cycling lands: instant boost for knight, draw engine with loam. You all understands this, I guess.
3 Mox, 3 hierarch: Why only 3 of each? Here is the simple answer: you want 2 mox in opening hand only if you have 2 lands + life from the loam (rare) or 3 lands + intuition (very rare). So in most cases, it's awful. Quite the same reasoning can be made with 2 noble hierarch en main de départ. Although, you'll like 1 Hierarch and 1 Mox.
As fast mana, these slots enable to insist on the tempo game plan. It is also usually a good call to avoid daze. You can play a turn 2 daze-proof Qasali quite easily against countertop, or to keep open mana for cycling, stifle or swords to plowshare.
As a colour fixer, these slots make mana denial strategies very weak against this deck and make us confidant about fetching basics. Another important thing is the fact that the deck can survive easily without playing any island.
Individually, these cards are in synergy with the rest of the deck: Mox Diamond is excellent with Life from the Loam and it boosts knight, while Hierrarch is exalted and serves as a protection against edict like removal (Warren Weirding, Gatekeeper of Malakir). don't forget the strength of an aggro start Hierarch + Qasali. It's real aggro.
The body of the deck:
4 Knight of the Reliquary: the cornerstone of the deck. It's strange that legacy players do not play it more. This card is very good as aggro (almost always at least a 4/4 for 3). It's also very good as a control card, as a strong blocker and a crop rotation on legs (Maze, Tabernacle, Mishra, Wasteland). It can also enable some tricks or generate a mana to fight daze. It's not good because you want to do it, it's good because you can do it. And we won't insist on the various combat tricks in attack or in block. It can also get rid of islands against Merfolk or forests in anticipation to Submerge.
4 Tarmogoyf: Fast and big aggro card. Also good as control. Actually in this deck, the aggro plan is most of all supported by an exalted creature and either Knight is better at that or Qasali can also take this role. So that Tarmogoyf remains often in defense to block the opposing aggro mode.
4 Qasali Pridemage: Another card that can take different game roles. First, excellent in the role of an exalted weenie creature. At worst it's a watchwolf. Its exaltation enables use also to attack with Tarmogoyf and win the Goyf war. Great against countertop in a deck that plays 6 fast mana cards.These first roles are the main reasons why Fred plays 4 of them, even if its ability to get rid of more random (but numerous) cards such as Confinement, Moat, Crucible,... is very reassuring. It also forces the RR and deed players to play and crack them directly, which is often a problem against Bant Loam that plays so much mana denial. Qasali is also good at protecting our graveyard (the main grave hate are Leyline of the Void, Planar Void, Relic of Progenitus, Tormod's Crypt).
3 Elspeth, Knight Errant: Another serious contender of the deck. Impressive as in the aggro mode (knight 10/10 flying, but also qasali 6/6 or 7/7 flying). It's also great against control which can't deal with everything. As it is generally the last card we play we can hope it won't be counterspelled and once in play it's just the nightmare of the control player. Another nice aspect is that it generally pass through Counterbalance. So it's good as an aggressive tool, but don't forget how good it is as a control element. You get 1 chumpblocker per turn. In the worst situations, it earns you 2 or 3 fogs. Its ultimate is scary too even if we generally kill before it can be played. The ultimate is even better with the nex Tabernacle oracle (that says destroy instead of sacrifice). It's played as a 3-of because we want to be able to play intuition on it and because it's rearely a bad card.
1 Eternal Witness: First of all, no, witness is not here for intuitionning on a card that you have only *2. It's not forbidden to use it like this though. The main reason it's here it's because it's like a tutor in the deck. It's also a great topdeck.
1 Cenn's Enlistment: we used to play Worm Harvest during a long time but I suggested in august to give a try to Cenn's Enlistment. The reasons are: you don't always have lands in graveyard, it's 1CC less, it's easier to have W that GGG, it passes thought counterbalance more easily, it can attack through Elephant Grass and it does not die to Perish (very important). Once again it finds some use in different ways: it's difficult to deal with for control, it's also a chumpblocker factory. Its reduced mana cost makes it usable in gob, where Worm Harvest is really really difficult to play.
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale: everybody knows this card. It's extremely powerful. In this deck it can be double edged sometimes. You have to decide when you need it. This card particularly shines in the tribal, elfball and Ichorid MU. It's also good at preventing your opponent fro mplaying spells while you hold the board. As said earlier, its oracle text has changed and now indestructibility provided by Elspeth makes your creatures immune to Tabernacle. The idea is definitely not to topdeck this card but to find it when you need it.
1 Maze of Ith: this card is really awesome. We can untap a creature that has attacked and dealt its damage at the end combat step, either to block, or to use the knight ability (or both).
4 Swords to plowshares: I think you got it.
3 Stifle: This slot has been debated a lot. It's another versatile card. Its main use is for mana denial of course but it's also a defense against sweepers such as explosives and deed. It also protects your own mana base from opposing wastes. It helps against storm, it plays tempo against jitte, shackles or vial. A good tech to fizzle ultimate of planeswalkers. It can save also a spell against countertop. Post SB, it owns the best grave hate spells: relic and tormod.
1 Rushing River: Another good topdeck. It provides a temporary solution to everything.
2 Life from the loam: Life from the Loam serves several game plans in the deck: waste lock, fight against opposing mana denial, retrace, intuition piles, CA with cycling lands. However, it is rarely game plan number 1. It's just here to provide plan B to the deck.
2 Intuition: Here again, two main utilities: tutors 3 times for a direct threat in order to kill fast. Or build strong life from the loam stacks and tutors for 3 cards at once at instant speed. It can also boost your creatures with knight in play make a pile with 1 life from the loam and 2*tranquil thicket you're sure to give it +2/+2. The same with tarmogoyf, you generally can tutor stuff to make it +1/+1 or +2/+2.
1 Crop rotation: it's another instant speed tutor, but a cheap one that serves also other purposes: gives from +1/+1 to +3/+3 to knight.
Main Deck: other possibilities
Fred tested a lot of other options. Some were far-fetched (Bant Charm, Wild Mongrel, Waterfront Bouncer), some were good cards but did not fit the deck (Oblivion ring, Rafiq), some are options that he still considers feasible. Here are some:
"Control" version of Bant Loam: this list had some results (top8ed the 112 players tournament in Bourgoin Jallieu). Calling it control is an exaggeration. Let's basically say it's a slightly more control version. The biggest difference is the insertion of the academy ruins + engineered explosives + sensei's divining top in the list. It's still not clear what MU it helps since we already beat control decks with the retrace spell and Elspeth. Maybe it gives another option to get rid of counterbalance, if not set too early. Against Merfolk it can also be a winner. If you choose to follow this variant Trinket Mage can really be good (even if it's not included in the list usually). Fred used to play academy ruins+EE but he was not satisfied by them eventually.
Cunning Wish: tested in replacement of Elspeth. Cunning Wish on Berserk as a bit the same use as aggro Elspeth (kill fast) but it's far more fragile: sensible to creature removal. Elspeth was preferred for 2 reasons: it's better against control and because the blue cards are limited as far as possible.
Trygon Predator: it's very good. In replacement of Qasali probably, but the problem is this one: Trygon Predator is better with exalted. Fred would like to find 1 slot for it MD.
Jotun Grunt MD: Grunt is really good in the deck. Tarmogoyf was preferred because it's easier to play 4 tarmo than 4 Jotun. A split 2-2 is really possible, but the problem we could see is that Jotun is not good as a blocker (because it won't block eternally). As an aggro card it can end the game really fast with exalted and Elspeth.
Spell Pierce MD: In replacement of Stifle. This choice is extensively debated later when I present my list.
Kitchen Finks: if your metagame is full of burn, sligh, gob and zoo, then you must play it. It's big and resilient with exaltation. It's good as a blocker. It's just a bit weak compared to other 3CC cards in the deck. It's played *2 MD in the control version.
Splash B: at its start the deck had a double splash ub. Volrath's Stronghold was sexy and Fleshbag Marauder, Darkblast, Stinkweed Imp looked like good options. And B is also agood colour for the SB. But eventually, the mana base was really difficult. The best if you want to play B, then drop U. That's what I played at the 112 people event, with entomb playing the role of intuition, dark confidant replacing numerically the stifle and MD darkblast, top*3, ... The list had a lot of differences with this one actually. Finally, I dropped it because Dark confidant was not that good and because plague in SB were not that hot neither. I was a bit disappointed by the list, especially in the tribal MU which was the reason why I made it in the first place.
Lorescale Coatl: simply awful in the deck. Serves nothing. No evasion, too long to be big (we don't have counterbalance to wait, nor brainstorm to speed up its growth).
Side-board: some ideas
The slots are always moving and highly metagame dependant.
2 (3) Burrenton Forge-Tender: against burn, zoo, gob, aggro loam and Ichorid's bridges (I recall that it does not target so that you can sacrifice it without any red source to prevent).
2 (3) Meddling Mage: against combo, of course. Don't dream, the ANT or TES MUs are too difficult for it to be credible, but against other comboes (Natural Order, enchantress, Painter, Scepter Chant,…). It's entered in a lot of MU because it cuts game breaking spells (humility, perish, …).
1 Gaddock Teeg: a bit the same as Meddling Mage.
2 (1) Engineered explosives: against merfolk, Ichorid, Chalice.dec, mirror, aggroloam, enchantress, elves.
1 Stifle: It's likely that this slot will be replaced with Spell Pierces but it was a good option against combo and MUs where you want your mana denial to be efficient.
1 Path to exile: against aggro, dreadnought.dec, merfolk, elves, aggroloam.
1 Mox diamond: in order to boost the first turns. Against combo, obviously but also Dragon Stompy (to help to have coloured mana) and Aggro Loam.
2 Jotun Grunt: when you want to deal with your opponent's graveyard. Aggro Loam, mirror, survival, Ichorid, good against Ad Nauseam too, since it hits strong fast and prevent them to reach threshold for cabal ritual or play the IGG plan too easily.
1 Enlightened tutor: with a enchantment/artifact toolbox. We tend to dislike it these last days because it makes card disadvantage and it's not combo with intuition.
1 Ethersworn cannonist: against storm and enchantress.
1 COP red: against burn, gob and Progenitus (can buy you some turns, the time your opponent finds a solution).
1 Worship: it used to be good in a lot of red MUs, but now qasali is everywhere and it's a bit weaker. It was also a bit too slow in a lot of cases.
1 (2) Tormod's crypt: Against Ichorid (buys you some time) and reanimator (even if it's not a complete solution since Exhume + Imp enables to dodge it).
1 Propaganda/Ghostly prison: Really good but not to forget that it does not protect Eslpeth. You often enter it in MUs where Elspeth is too slow (Ichorid, tribal).
1 Dueling grounds: it comboes nicely with Maze of Ith, Exaltation, Elspeth. However I don't see in which MUs it's better than Propaganda.
3 (4) Spell Pierce: if you don't play it MD, you can play them in SB.
Even if he wants to leave his enlightened tutor toolbox, Fred's last SB was: 2 burrenton forge-tender, 2 MM, 1 ethersworn cannonist, 1 Gaddock Teeg, 2 EE, 1 Stifle, 1 Path to exile, 1 Mox diamond, 1 Jotun Grunt, 1 Enlightnened tutor, 1 COP Red, 1 Tormod's crypt.
If he'd make a tourney without any precise idea of the metagame, he'd play with: 1 Mox diamond, 3 (4?) spell Pierce, 2 (3?) Meddling Mage, 1 (2?) engineered explosives, 1 Path to exile, 2 Ethersworn cannonist, 2 Jotun Grunt, 2 Burrenton Forge-tender, 1(0?) Dueling grounds
Match-ups analysis
In fast, ANT and TES are really awful. Aggro Loam, Reanimator and Survival/Natural Order are negative too. Humility Landstill is quite balanced, the same about Gobs with Perish. Ugr countertop goyf is balanced too. The rest ranges from slightly positive to very positive (the best one is Tempo Thresh). I will describe them in later posts on the basis of my version of the deck (which is obviously far better ;-).