KobeBryan
02-15-2013, 12:57 AM
PRIMER: BANT Midrange
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m61/Cashew333/Planechase/stf54_bant.jpg
I. INTRODUCTION
BANT refers to the colors: :w:, :g:, :u:. With printing of the Alara block these three colors have been supported through cards such as noble heirarch and knight of the reliquary. Bant is an Aggro-Control deck based upon these colors. (:g:) gives you the most powerful and efficient creatures. With the printing of green sun’s zenith, green has now provided BANT consistency with creatures. (:u:) provides you with consistency and powerful answers to troublesome combo decks. It also gives you the power of another win condition, Jace, the Mindsculptor. (:w:) gives you the necessary removal and splash to allow the deck to play the most powerful creatures. Playing BANT allows you to have a fighting chance against any deck on the field. It gives you protection with (:u:), creature removal with (:w:), and (:g:) lets you control the board with the best of them. The greatest thing about BANT is sideboard. You can play the most powerful cards in each color in the sideboard to give you the most decent chance to win the tournament in your meta.
Reasons to Play BANT
PROS
You have a chance against every deck in the meta.
The sideboard provides you with the best cards in any meta.
Exalted
Counters and Brainstorm
CONS
It’s a very expensive deck. You need a $50-100 dollar card for every 3 cards you need. Jaces, dual lands, Karakas.
Price of Progress, Blood Moon, and Back to Basics are not your friend.
You never have a superior matchup in any match that you play. You will have a very, very good chance in every matchup. Every matchup will now be a toss-up, which makes it a very long and tiring day.
You have a very lousy matchup against Maverick, Goblins, and Elves. I would say Elves is nearly unwinnable.
You cannot play all the cards that are good. Meaning, if you want to play Stoneforge Mystic Style with blades, you cannot play green sun zenith style. You can only choose 2 of the following. 1. Force of Will, 2. Stoneforge Mystic Package, 3. Green Sun’s Zenith Package, or 4. Natural Order Package.
II. DECK CONSTRUCTION
"THE CORE"
This is by General Consensus, the very core of every BANT deck. Probably the set of cards I have seen as the "Core" in every competitive build of this deck that I have ever seen.
[deck=Bant Core]
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Knights of the Reliquary
3 Vendillion Clique
Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force Of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Spell Pierce
Planeswalker
3 Jace, The Mind sculptor
[/decks]
Card Choices
Noble Hierarch – Your mana accelerator and color fixing. You need these. The exalted are bonuses.
Tarmogoyf - Because this is a midrange deck, this card isn’t all that useful anymore
scavenging ooze – Your best friend against graveyard hate. You want to see this guy.
Rhox War Monk – This card isn’t that useful anymore. The most a 1 of if you use the green sun’s zenith package.
knight of the Reliquary – The best 3 drop creature out there. This guy grows with the fetchlands you play. It grows with the wastelands you play. It helps with fixing mana. You can basically tap a forest for mana, cut the forest, and fetch another land for an additional mana, all in one turn. It also helps you find karakas to answer the troublesome legendary creatures.
Stoneforge Mystic – The best 2 drop white creature. Allows you to play the aggro style with Batterskull, Blades, and Jitte.
Qasali Pridemage – Your answer to artifacts and enchantments. It’s a great aggro creature on its own. With a turn 1 noble heirarch, and turn 2 qasali pridemage, you have 2 exalted triggers when you attack.
Swords to Plowshares - Best 1-drop Removal in Legacy
Brainstorm Staple Legacy Cantrip
Force of Will Staple Counterspell, still one of the best cards ever.
Daze – I’m not sure about this card. Its great when you need it turn 1 to protect your noble Hierarch, but other than that, it loses value very quickly.
Jace, The Mind Sculptor – The best four drop in the game. You want this guy to control the board. This guy gives you answers against control. It also provides consistency with draws.
Umezawa’s Jitte –Depending on your meta, this card is very useful against Elves and other Aggro decks. It will singlehandedly win you the aggro matchup.
Green Sun’s Zenith If you are playing this card, it provides you with the best consistency for this deck to find answers. It allows you to play 1 ofs. You can play a 1 of sylvan safekeeper, a 1 of Rhox War Monk, a 1 of Qasali Pridemage , and a 1 of scavenging ooze .
III. DECKLISTS
I will not be posting my own decklist to avoid biasness with my card choices.
Here is David Rocher’s Decklist that some have copied card for card with successful results. This is the Stoneforge Mystic Version.
Creatures [15]
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Stoneforge Mystic
Instants [15]
3 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
Enchantments [1]
1 Sylvan Library
Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts [3]
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands [23]
1 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Plains
1 Savannah
2 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
Sideboard
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Life from the Loam
2 Path to Exile
2 Submerge
2 Flusterstorm
3 Meddling Mage
2 Tormod's Crypt
The Bryan Hawley Decklist that topped 15 out of 700 at GP Denver.
Creatures [18]
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
Instants [11]
1 Spell Pierce
2 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sorceries [4]
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts [2]
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands [22]
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Tundra
3 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
Sideboard
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Force of Will
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Krosan Grip
3 Path to Exile
2 Pithing Needle
2 Spell Pierce
1 Umezawa's Jitte
IV. SIDEBOARD
Like the land, Choosing the proper Side Board for your Meta and/or weak match ups is as important as the deck construction itself. Here I will Cover Most but not all card selections as good side board choices. This will cover both the Aggro, and the control Variants.
Card Choices
Sword of Body and Mind
Don't use this card. When was milling a person ever a viable strategy. And what does a 2/2 body do for you anyways? There are much better swords out there that provide better effects and protection.
Natural Order
This card lets you cheat in progenitus against fair decks. You have to dedicate quite a few slots for this to work though. You need at least 3 Natural Orders, 1 Progenitus, 1 dryad arbor. With Green Sun Zenith build, it helps you search for more green creatures to sacrifice for Natural Order.
Dueling Grounds
Being that your creatures are Exalted, and theirs not in most cases, this will give the edge to both attacking and defending, allowing one to outrace very potent decks such as Zoo, Gobs, 'folk.
Path to Exile
for the aggro heavy Meta. Having 6-7 StP effects will mean the differences between defeat and failure in most mtach-ups
Krosan Grip
Split second removal needed to face off against CouterTop, or other heavy counter/control decks. Good for Batterskull too.
Propaganda / Ghostly Prison
Some more options against the Aggro-Heavy Meta, some people prefer this to Dueling Grounds
Silence / Orim's Chant
The popularity of these on the side boards for Bant have waned since the banning of Mystical Tutor. It is still a viable option to stop combo however.
Meddling Mage
Good as a SB option from the board of the aggro OR control variants
Gaddock Teeg / Ethersworn Canonist
Teeg has been great against Storm combo and sneak attack. Ethersworn also provides good protection against ANT and Omniscience decks.
Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Great against Merfolk, may have too much of a narrow scope for your local meta however.
Tormod's Crypt / Relic of Progenitus
Your standard Legacy Graveyard Hate. If played at the proper times, can shut down really explosive decks. These cards give you earlier protection against Graveyard decks going off before your preferred choice scavenging ooze hits play.
Pithing Needle
Colorless/cheap answers to the like of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Goblin Charbelcher, etc.
Engineered Explosives
Cheap/colorless removal not requiring a color splash
Hydroblast / Blue Elemental Blast
Some very good Anti-Red cards as well as additional counters
Spell Pierce
Has become in it's own right, an additional cheap counterspell, or anti-Force of Will addition to many Legacy Decks
Qasali Pridemage / Trygon Predator / Harmonic Sliver
Your answer to Enchantments/Artifacts.
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Great against painter decks, but isn't good enough to run 4 of. Tutor package almost needed.
Rafiq of the Many
Legendary, therefore not a good option to run... almost a win-more card. Can be NO'ed.
Submerge
good against Zoo and Maverick
Runed Halo
Good against Combo mainly but has other uses. Same problem as Wheel. :symw::symw: cc may be too harsh
Elspeth, Knight Errant
possible alternate win con in the Bant control version. Good card against Miracles and black decks that want to beat with with attrition.
Mother of Runes
great card to use with war monks and goyfs. possible alternate to Cliques/Finks.
V. MATCHUPS
KEYS TO VICTORY
RUG
The key here is to resolve your Knights of the Reliquary. *They do not have the answers to take down the knight game 1. *Part of RUG's gameplan is to deny you mana, so having lands in the graveyard won't be a problem. *Watch out for Forked Bolt to take out your mana dorks. *Your mana dorks are essential to you winning this game.
Game 2, I typically take out Jace and Counters. *Spell Pierce is not bad in this matchup because RUG usually doesn't have any lands in play. *FOW goes, Jace goes. *I have been playing Divert in the sideboard, which has been a house against RUG. *Its similar to Pierce, but those Bolts, Chains, Forked Bolts become much more painful against them than just countering it. *Watch out for Submerge, it is guaranteed they will bring this in against you to bounce your Knight. *
BUG
Learn to play around daze. *They will try to daze all of your early spells so watch out for that. *Abrupt decays typically target your knight while they bash you in with their Tarmogoyf. *The good thing is you have more creatures than they do and you have Scavenging Ooze to eat their lands, their spells, and to shrink their goyfs. *Watch out for Hymn to Tourachs. *It may break you if you don't hide your key pieces. *The bad players will use their decays on your mana dorks, but the better players will save it for your knights. *The reason I say this is because your nobles will not be strong enough to beat through their defenses anyways. *
Game 2, Bring in your Path to Exiles, your diverts. *BUG runs absolutely no basic lands. *They will not be searching for anything if you path them. *Again, spell pierce is good in this matchup and so are diverts. *They do not have the lands to pay for these spells. *Bad players will bring in sinkholes against you, but you have so many mana dorks, it doesn't matter if they bring it in. *Of course, you can still lose to sinkholes as with any deck. *Watch out for dark blast. *they will try to remove all your little creatures with it. *Jace again wins games. *If you have elspeth and Thrun, please do bring these in.
Sneak and Show
One of the harder matchups. *Turn 1 Ancient Tomb and Turn 2 island could mean disaster. *They have counters to back up these two lines of plays. * You do have counters and vendillion cliques so not all is lost. *You also have knights of the reliquary to fetch your karakas.*
Game 2, Bring in counters, bring in your oblivion rings and detention sphere. *Bring in flusterstorm. *They will bring in REBs and Pyroblasts. *Hope they don't go off. *Its still not an easy matchup. *Thats why this deck has been in the decks to beat for so long.
- Counter Argument
SNEAK ATTACK/Show and tell decks in my experience are one of the best matches this deck have. We have Knights and counterspells and the same time. If you add some Surgicals game 2 and 3 the match become really hard for them.
Miracles
Game 1. *Your deck is faster than theirs. *Keep dropping creatures, put them on a clock. *Eventually, they will try to plow your little creatures one by one. *Don't counter it. *Let them do it. *Save your counters for the more important things like the miracles cards. *Even Terminus you do not have to counter. *Its more important to counter their win condition, Jace and Entreat the Angels. *Just put pressure on them and the game should be ok.
Game 2. *Same gameplan, but this time you have teeg. *Don't worry if teeg dies, just have them waste more spells on your creatures while you save the counters for their most important spells. *This matchup shouldn't really pose a problem since you have so many cards maindeck that fights them. *3 Cliques, 3 jaces. *Try to drop your jace sooner than they do so they won't be able to activate it. *Also, Karakas vendilion clique combo is your best friend here. *Make sure they review the miracles card, then you clique in to remove the one with the trigger.
Dredge
Game 1, As always, they can go off. *Try to protect yourself with Force of Will turn 1. *Watch out for Dread return and cabal therapy naming your key cards. *Brainstorm the hate away. *Drop Ooze as soon as possible.
Game 2. *I don't run that many graveyard hate cards. *I only use 1 crop rotation and 1 bojuka bog. *I do have 4 main deck graveyard hate, 2 scavenging ooze and 2 deathrite shamans. *Getting Ooze in play is your most important goal. *I also run detention sphere so I can get rid of zombies. *
Jund
Jund is very similar to BUG. *Follow that game plan and you should be able to win. Save your counters for liliana of the veil. *Divert is also key when they try to get your cards with thoughtseizes and hymns and bolts.
Esperblade
Someone Please give me some feedback on this. *I don't have experience playing them all too much.
Maverick
If you are not running the Natural Order package from the side, give up.
Elves
Save your Swords for back breaking boosters like Priest of Titania, or maybe even Heritage Druid if it is their only way of tapping Nettle Sentinels for mana. Submerge and Engineered Explosives from the SB could give you a fighting chance to slow them down beyond recovery. Get out a Jitte as quickly as possible.
Goblins
Removal should target Turn 1 Lackey, Piledriver, and Warchief, in that order. Counterspells are essentially worthless in this matchup, as Cavern of Souls makes it so you can only counter Aether Vial. Counter Aether Vial. Side out as many counters as you can, bringing in Engineered Explosives, Path to Exile, and Krosan Grip. Get out a Jitte as quickly as possible.
KEY
Favorable - 75%+ chances of winning against
Slightly Favorable - 56%-74% Chance of winning
Even Match - 45% - 55% Chance of winning
Slightly Unfavorable - *26%-44% Chance of Winning
Unfavorable - 25% and below chance of winning
CREDITS
Aaronc123 - From MTGSALVATION
jbrodster - From MTGSALVATION
honin - From MTGSALVATION
OLD THREAD
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=268378
UPDATE
March 22, 2013
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m61/Cashew333/Planechase/stf54_bant.jpg
I. INTRODUCTION
BANT refers to the colors: :w:, :g:, :u:. With printing of the Alara block these three colors have been supported through cards such as noble heirarch and knight of the reliquary. Bant is an Aggro-Control deck based upon these colors. (:g:) gives you the most powerful and efficient creatures. With the printing of green sun’s zenith, green has now provided BANT consistency with creatures. (:u:) provides you with consistency and powerful answers to troublesome combo decks. It also gives you the power of another win condition, Jace, the Mindsculptor. (:w:) gives you the necessary removal and splash to allow the deck to play the most powerful creatures. Playing BANT allows you to have a fighting chance against any deck on the field. It gives you protection with (:u:), creature removal with (:w:), and (:g:) lets you control the board with the best of them. The greatest thing about BANT is sideboard. You can play the most powerful cards in each color in the sideboard to give you the most decent chance to win the tournament in your meta.
Reasons to Play BANT
PROS
You have a chance against every deck in the meta.
The sideboard provides you with the best cards in any meta.
Exalted
Counters and Brainstorm
CONS
It’s a very expensive deck. You need a $50-100 dollar card for every 3 cards you need. Jaces, dual lands, Karakas.
Price of Progress, Blood Moon, and Back to Basics are not your friend.
You never have a superior matchup in any match that you play. You will have a very, very good chance in every matchup. Every matchup will now be a toss-up, which makes it a very long and tiring day.
You have a very lousy matchup against Maverick, Goblins, and Elves. I would say Elves is nearly unwinnable.
You cannot play all the cards that are good. Meaning, if you want to play Stoneforge Mystic Style with blades, you cannot play green sun zenith style. You can only choose 2 of the following. 1. Force of Will, 2. Stoneforge Mystic Package, 3. Green Sun’s Zenith Package, or 4. Natural Order Package.
II. DECK CONSTRUCTION
"THE CORE"
This is by General Consensus, the very core of every BANT deck. Probably the set of cards I have seen as the "Core" in every competitive build of this deck that I have ever seen.
[deck=Bant Core]
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Knights of the Reliquary
3 Vendillion Clique
Instants
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force Of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Spell Pierce
Planeswalker
3 Jace, The Mind sculptor
[/decks]
Card Choices
Noble Hierarch – Your mana accelerator and color fixing. You need these. The exalted are bonuses.
Tarmogoyf - Because this is a midrange deck, this card isn’t all that useful anymore
scavenging ooze – Your best friend against graveyard hate. You want to see this guy.
Rhox War Monk – This card isn’t that useful anymore. The most a 1 of if you use the green sun’s zenith package.
knight of the Reliquary – The best 3 drop creature out there. This guy grows with the fetchlands you play. It grows with the wastelands you play. It helps with fixing mana. You can basically tap a forest for mana, cut the forest, and fetch another land for an additional mana, all in one turn. It also helps you find karakas to answer the troublesome legendary creatures.
Stoneforge Mystic – The best 2 drop white creature. Allows you to play the aggro style with Batterskull, Blades, and Jitte.
Qasali Pridemage – Your answer to artifacts and enchantments. It’s a great aggro creature on its own. With a turn 1 noble heirarch, and turn 2 qasali pridemage, you have 2 exalted triggers when you attack.
Swords to Plowshares - Best 1-drop Removal in Legacy
Brainstorm Staple Legacy Cantrip
Force of Will Staple Counterspell, still one of the best cards ever.
Daze – I’m not sure about this card. Its great when you need it turn 1 to protect your noble Hierarch, but other than that, it loses value very quickly.
Jace, The Mind Sculptor – The best four drop in the game. You want this guy to control the board. This guy gives you answers against control. It also provides consistency with draws.
Umezawa’s Jitte –Depending on your meta, this card is very useful against Elves and other Aggro decks. It will singlehandedly win you the aggro matchup.
Green Sun’s Zenith If you are playing this card, it provides you with the best consistency for this deck to find answers. It allows you to play 1 ofs. You can play a 1 of sylvan safekeeper, a 1 of Rhox War Monk, a 1 of Qasali Pridemage , and a 1 of scavenging ooze .
III. DECKLISTS
I will not be posting my own decklist to avoid biasness with my card choices.
Here is David Rocher’s Decklist that some have copied card for card with successful results. This is the Stoneforge Mystic Version.
Creatures [15]
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Stoneforge Mystic
Instants [15]
3 Spell Pierce
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
Enchantments [1]
1 Sylvan Library
Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts [3]
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands [23]
1 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith
1 Plains
1 Savannah
2 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
Sideboard
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Life from the Loam
2 Path to Exile
2 Submerge
2 Flusterstorm
3 Meddling Mage
2 Tormod's Crypt
The Bryan Hawley Decklist that topped 15 out of 700 at GP Denver.
Creatures [18]
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Vendilion Clique
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
Instants [11]
1 Spell Pierce
2 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sorceries [4]
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Planeswalkers [3]
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Artifacts [2]
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands [22]
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Tundra
3 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
Sideboard
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Force of Will
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Krosan Grip
3 Path to Exile
2 Pithing Needle
2 Spell Pierce
1 Umezawa's Jitte
IV. SIDEBOARD
Like the land, Choosing the proper Side Board for your Meta and/or weak match ups is as important as the deck construction itself. Here I will Cover Most but not all card selections as good side board choices. This will cover both the Aggro, and the control Variants.
Card Choices
Sword of Body and Mind
Don't use this card. When was milling a person ever a viable strategy. And what does a 2/2 body do for you anyways? There are much better swords out there that provide better effects and protection.
Natural Order
This card lets you cheat in progenitus against fair decks. You have to dedicate quite a few slots for this to work though. You need at least 3 Natural Orders, 1 Progenitus, 1 dryad arbor. With Green Sun Zenith build, it helps you search for more green creatures to sacrifice for Natural Order.
Dueling Grounds
Being that your creatures are Exalted, and theirs not in most cases, this will give the edge to both attacking and defending, allowing one to outrace very potent decks such as Zoo, Gobs, 'folk.
Path to Exile
for the aggro heavy Meta. Having 6-7 StP effects will mean the differences between defeat and failure in most mtach-ups
Krosan Grip
Split second removal needed to face off against CouterTop, or other heavy counter/control decks. Good for Batterskull too.
Propaganda / Ghostly Prison
Some more options against the Aggro-Heavy Meta, some people prefer this to Dueling Grounds
Silence / Orim's Chant
The popularity of these on the side boards for Bant have waned since the banning of Mystical Tutor. It is still a viable option to stop combo however.
Meddling Mage
Good as a SB option from the board of the aggro OR control variants
Gaddock Teeg / Ethersworn Canonist
Teeg has been great against Storm combo and sneak attack. Ethersworn also provides good protection against ANT and Omniscience decks.
Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Great against Merfolk, may have too much of a narrow scope for your local meta however.
Tormod's Crypt / Relic of Progenitus
Your standard Legacy Graveyard Hate. If played at the proper times, can shut down really explosive decks. These cards give you earlier protection against Graveyard decks going off before your preferred choice scavenging ooze hits play.
Pithing Needle
Colorless/cheap answers to the like of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Goblin Charbelcher, etc.
Engineered Explosives
Cheap/colorless removal not requiring a color splash
Hydroblast / Blue Elemental Blast
Some very good Anti-Red cards as well as additional counters
Spell Pierce
Has become in it's own right, an additional cheap counterspell, or anti-Force of Will addition to many Legacy Decks
Qasali Pridemage / Trygon Predator / Harmonic Sliver
Your answer to Enchantments/Artifacts.
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Great against painter decks, but isn't good enough to run 4 of. Tutor package almost needed.
Rafiq of the Many
Legendary, therefore not a good option to run... almost a win-more card. Can be NO'ed.
Submerge
good against Zoo and Maverick
Runed Halo
Good against Combo mainly but has other uses. Same problem as Wheel. :symw::symw: cc may be too harsh
Elspeth, Knight Errant
possible alternate win con in the Bant control version. Good card against Miracles and black decks that want to beat with with attrition.
Mother of Runes
great card to use with war monks and goyfs. possible alternate to Cliques/Finks.
V. MATCHUPS
KEYS TO VICTORY
RUG
The key here is to resolve your Knights of the Reliquary. *They do not have the answers to take down the knight game 1. *Part of RUG's gameplan is to deny you mana, so having lands in the graveyard won't be a problem. *Watch out for Forked Bolt to take out your mana dorks. *Your mana dorks are essential to you winning this game.
Game 2, I typically take out Jace and Counters. *Spell Pierce is not bad in this matchup because RUG usually doesn't have any lands in play. *FOW goes, Jace goes. *I have been playing Divert in the sideboard, which has been a house against RUG. *Its similar to Pierce, but those Bolts, Chains, Forked Bolts become much more painful against them than just countering it. *Watch out for Submerge, it is guaranteed they will bring this in against you to bounce your Knight. *
BUG
Learn to play around daze. *They will try to daze all of your early spells so watch out for that. *Abrupt decays typically target your knight while they bash you in with their Tarmogoyf. *The good thing is you have more creatures than they do and you have Scavenging Ooze to eat their lands, their spells, and to shrink their goyfs. *Watch out for Hymn to Tourachs. *It may break you if you don't hide your key pieces. *The bad players will use their decays on your mana dorks, but the better players will save it for your knights. *The reason I say this is because your nobles will not be strong enough to beat through their defenses anyways. *
Game 2, Bring in your Path to Exiles, your diverts. *BUG runs absolutely no basic lands. *They will not be searching for anything if you path them. *Again, spell pierce is good in this matchup and so are diverts. *They do not have the lands to pay for these spells. *Bad players will bring in sinkholes against you, but you have so many mana dorks, it doesn't matter if they bring it in. *Of course, you can still lose to sinkholes as with any deck. *Watch out for dark blast. *they will try to remove all your little creatures with it. *Jace again wins games. *If you have elspeth and Thrun, please do bring these in.
Sneak and Show
One of the harder matchups. *Turn 1 Ancient Tomb and Turn 2 island could mean disaster. *They have counters to back up these two lines of plays. * You do have counters and vendillion cliques so not all is lost. *You also have knights of the reliquary to fetch your karakas.*
Game 2, Bring in counters, bring in your oblivion rings and detention sphere. *Bring in flusterstorm. *They will bring in REBs and Pyroblasts. *Hope they don't go off. *Its still not an easy matchup. *Thats why this deck has been in the decks to beat for so long.
- Counter Argument
SNEAK ATTACK/Show and tell decks in my experience are one of the best matches this deck have. We have Knights and counterspells and the same time. If you add some Surgicals game 2 and 3 the match become really hard for them.
Miracles
Game 1. *Your deck is faster than theirs. *Keep dropping creatures, put them on a clock. *Eventually, they will try to plow your little creatures one by one. *Don't counter it. *Let them do it. *Save your counters for the more important things like the miracles cards. *Even Terminus you do not have to counter. *Its more important to counter their win condition, Jace and Entreat the Angels. *Just put pressure on them and the game should be ok.
Game 2. *Same gameplan, but this time you have teeg. *Don't worry if teeg dies, just have them waste more spells on your creatures while you save the counters for their most important spells. *This matchup shouldn't really pose a problem since you have so many cards maindeck that fights them. *3 Cliques, 3 jaces. *Try to drop your jace sooner than they do so they won't be able to activate it. *Also, Karakas vendilion clique combo is your best friend here. *Make sure they review the miracles card, then you clique in to remove the one with the trigger.
Dredge
Game 1, As always, they can go off. *Try to protect yourself with Force of Will turn 1. *Watch out for Dread return and cabal therapy naming your key cards. *Brainstorm the hate away. *Drop Ooze as soon as possible.
Game 2. *I don't run that many graveyard hate cards. *I only use 1 crop rotation and 1 bojuka bog. *I do have 4 main deck graveyard hate, 2 scavenging ooze and 2 deathrite shamans. *Getting Ooze in play is your most important goal. *I also run detention sphere so I can get rid of zombies. *
Jund
Jund is very similar to BUG. *Follow that game plan and you should be able to win. Save your counters for liliana of the veil. *Divert is also key when they try to get your cards with thoughtseizes and hymns and bolts.
Esperblade
Someone Please give me some feedback on this. *I don't have experience playing them all too much.
Maverick
If you are not running the Natural Order package from the side, give up.
Elves
Save your Swords for back breaking boosters like Priest of Titania, or maybe even Heritage Druid if it is their only way of tapping Nettle Sentinels for mana. Submerge and Engineered Explosives from the SB could give you a fighting chance to slow them down beyond recovery. Get out a Jitte as quickly as possible.
Goblins
Removal should target Turn 1 Lackey, Piledriver, and Warchief, in that order. Counterspells are essentially worthless in this matchup, as Cavern of Souls makes it so you can only counter Aether Vial. Counter Aether Vial. Side out as many counters as you can, bringing in Engineered Explosives, Path to Exile, and Krosan Grip. Get out a Jitte as quickly as possible.
KEY
Favorable - 75%+ chances of winning against
Slightly Favorable - 56%-74% Chance of winning
Even Match - 45% - 55% Chance of winning
Slightly Unfavorable - *26%-44% Chance of Winning
Unfavorable - 25% and below chance of winning
CREDITS
Aaronc123 - From MTGSALVATION
jbrodster - From MTGSALVATION
honin - From MTGSALVATION
OLD THREAD
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=268378
UPDATE
March 22, 2013