[Deck] Bant

[crispymelee]

Long time in this thread. I was playing bant after the banning of w6, but i've realized that every match, I'm just fighting against planeswalkers now.

So what we really need to do is shift this deck to be able to fight the cheap CMC planeswalkers, which I believe would be best to shift the white out for black colors...unfortunately, it won't be called bant anymore. But the cards are very similar.

Been wanting to play in Bant forever, since it was a powerhouse when I was last really active many moons ago.

@Kobe: That being said, with a distinct lack of pw-specific removal in Bant colors outside of Council's Judgment and O-ring type effects, what options are there?

@the Bant crowd as a whole, where has Bant really settled over the past year? I've always loved the NO/Prog package, is that something you guys still try to jam? Or has going for more tempo been what seems to be in favor for UWG?

[KobeBryan]

Been wanting to play in Bant forever, since it was a powerhouse when I was last really active many moons ago.

@Kobe: That being said, with a distinct lack of pw-specific removal in Bant colors outside of Council's Judgment and O-ring type effects, what options are there?

@the Bant crowd as a whole, where has Bant really settled over the past year? I've always loved the NO/Prog package, is that something you guys still try to jam? Or has going for more tempo been what seems to be in favor for UWG?

Tnn blade is where the dec has stuck the last 6 months. Nowever. Ive been playing and im getting hosed by cheap walkers. I stopped completely when w6 was in the meta and now with plague engineer. Its not a good spot for bant

[streetMage]

Been wanting to play in Bant forever, since it was a powerhouse when I was last really active many moons ago.

@Kobe: That being said, with a distinct lack of pw-specific removal in Bant colors outside of Council's Judgment and O-ring type effects, what options are there?

@the Bant crowd as a whole, where has Bant really settled over the past year? I've always loved the NO/Prog package, is that something you guys still try to jam? Or has going for more tempo been what seems to be in favor for UWG?

Where there's a Force of Will, there's always a way...

I just recently got back into playing and re-tuning my Bant list.
I decided to test of the following cards:
Brazen Borrower
Teferi, Time Raveler
Oko, Thief of Crowns

If there are signs that Oko won't get banned, I will probably just up the number in the main.
Because of ramp we still have the option of t2 three Oko, TNN, Teferi, etc.
For me, I rarely keep hands without t1 ramp... (unless its game 2 and I'm looking for specific sideboard cards..)

As KobeBryant mentioned there's alot of small powerful walkers in the format i.e. Oko.. and Plague Engineer is also a beating so Bant isn't favored.. but I love toolbox decks. Sure we could drop white for black, but whites still offers the most powerful/efficient removal spell in the format in Swords to Plowshares, the Knights still provide good utility, one can fetch Karakas and Wastelands; the other has three relevant modes and both can be tutored with Green Sun. Stoneforge turn t2 with counterspell protection backup can still do some work..

I'm not really a fan of the NO package, although it is powerful.
I just like consistency and the ability to tutor answers...
Here's my list so far.

Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Wasteland
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
1 Savannah
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Polluted Delta
1 Karakas
1 Forest

Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 True-Name Nemesis
1 Brazen Borrower
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Ramunap Excavator

Spells
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Ponder
1 Council's Judgment

Artifacts
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Enchantments
1 Sylvan Library

Planeswalkers
1 Oko, Thief of Crowns
1 Teferi, Time Raveler

[streetMage]

My initial thoughts were meh, but after further review I think there might be an argument for it...
Its Green Sun-able, replaces itself and ramps... between fetchlands and free countermagic, I think we could fill the yard quick enough to pay for its escape cost.

Thoughts??

[streetMage]

Been wanting to play in Bant forever, since it was a powerhouse when I was last really active many moons ago.

@Kobe: That being said, with a distinct lack of pw-specific removal in Bant colors outside of Council's Judgment and O-ring type effects, what options are there?

This can deal with the most relevant planeswalkers in Legacy, i.e. Oko, Teferi, Liliana, Tezzeret, Narset and Jace.
There's also cards like Beast Within, Unexpectedly Absent, Oblation, Celestial Purge and Generous Gift.

[Borg]

Besides Oko, Bant now can also have Hullbreacher in the deck.
Both are quality cards already but can become even better if more can be made of something they have in common : their tokens.

Enter Shape Anew and a Blightsteel Colossus
Sacrificing a Food or a Treasure token is a minor additional cost to tutor up a Colossus.

With Teferi, Time Raveler in play, Shape Anew gets Flash, which makes it superpowerful imo.
Shape Anew at end of opponent's turn makes for a Colossus with like Haste.
This is also ideal to get around an opposing Oko.

Shape Anew can even play a role as Chalice of the Void counter.
After destroying a Chalice, your opponent may likely reveal a new one for Zero which doesn't hurt us at all and is thus a double win.
It gets even better if they reveal something like a Walking Ballista or Stonecoil Serpent.

Not unimportant, Shape Anew is blue and thus pitches to fow.

Blightsteel Colossus can also make a difference in the Sneak and Show matchup.
Normally you want Colossus in your deck, not in your hand but against S&S this can make for quite a surprise.
A second Colossus SB may be advisable for that reason.

Following the above, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer probably also deserves to be in the deck.
Another token producer, being artifacts AND creatures for that matter with half the deck enabling her.

She has added value because she can give you an instant win the turn the Colossus enters play by using her -2 ability to simply turn a Food, Treasure or Servo token into an 11/11 Trampling, Indestructible Infecter for the win.

The ability to win the game out of nowhere allows you to play control even more without the need to also inflict some normal damage along the way.
At the same time it puts even more pressure on the opponent.

2 copies of Shape Anew may be enough, although with Noble Hierarch in there we can reach the necessary 4 mana and token availability rather fast so 3 copies may be more advisable. TBD.


//CC1
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Gilded Goose

//CC2
4 Ice-Fang Coatl
1 Sylvan Library

//CC3
3 Oko, Thief of Crowns
2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
1 Hullbreacher
2 Force of Negation
1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
1 Teferi, Time Raveler

//CC4
3 Shape Anew
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

//CC5
4 Force of Will

//CC12
1 Blightsteel Colossus

//Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
3 Snow-Covered Island
2 Tundra
2 Tropical Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Mystic Sanctuary

[Reeplcheep]

Great idea! Hullbreacher/narset plus days undoing is already being tested in snow for an I win button and natural order has been played in the past. It’s quite possible that oko/saheeli plus shape anew is comparable or better.

Some comments:
You have to play golden goose Over hierarch in your shape anew deck imo.

More okos seems better than Hullbreachers or coatls. You only have 4 things that make artifacts right now.

Just looking at elves’ no package, you probably want an un-elkable/wiltable target (inkwell leviathan) and an anti combo target (platinum angel) in your sideboard.

[Borg]

You have to play golden goose Over hierarch in your shape anew deck imo.

I had Gilded Goose originally ( it was the goose and its token that made me think of Shape Anew ) but ...
If you use the token to accelerate though you don't have any to sac to SA.
If you save the token, you're slowed down.

Hierarch seems the more important of the two but maybe a 3/1 split Hierarch/Goose is better.
The Exalted on the Hierarch is also important as you want to finish the game with one Colossus hit and that exalted bonus can make the difference.

More okos seems better than Hullbreachers or coatls. You only have 4 things that make artifacts right now.

Actually there are 6 ( 2x Oko/Breacher/Saheeli) but I agree the Oko's are the best and most reliable at producing them, followed by Saheeli, then Breacher in that Order. A 3/2/1 split is likely better, and with a goose added as well there are 7 token producers.

Just looking at elves’ no package, you probably want an un-elkable/wiltable target (inkwell leviathan) and an anti combo target (platinum angel) in your sideboard.

Those are great suggestions.
Thanks for the feedback.

[kinda]

I feel like this deck has a lot of tools to beat turbo valki and compete with the other brainstorm midrange decks.

Something like this:


4 force of will
1 Pithing Needle
3 T3feri
3 Lavinia, azorius Renegade
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Brainstorm
4 STP
3 Mother of Runes
1 Uro
3 natural order
1 progenitus
1 Elder Gargaroth
3 oko
20 L
1 dryad arbor

SB
2 Surgical Extraction
2 rip
3 fon
3 pithing needle
2 carpet of flowers
3 sylvan library