Bant Quellblade

[tescrin]

I am now calling this particular build defunct. Noble was an inadequate replacement and indeed most games drawing noble it was obviously the worst card. While KotR has been good in the matches you'd expect him to be good in (lands, turbodepths, Sneakshow, etc.) he's been thoroughly mediocre (but acceptable) in the other cases.

I am now back to believing that the Esper version of this deck was much better.
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If some of the lurkers still remember my previous incursion into what I called "Quellblade", here is a link to that; which was primarily in Esper. This allowed for Bitterblossom and DRS on black which accelerated into Queller in order to start locking the opponent. It had very good success in paper and 65% or so on MTGO by the time I got burnt out.

With the loss of DRS the natural switch was to Green as it still has Noble, which is 70% of a DRS and more reliable mana producer. Additionally, Green has Knight of the Reliquary which (oddly enough) is a very good replacement for Bitterblossom (because it shores up matches against Marit Lage and Reanimator) and it happens to be very good against Gurmags, S&T, and Eldrazi; which were issues the Esper version had. The fact that KotR got a stealth-buff with DRS gone is fairly huge and allows him to easily outsize most of the format's creatures while accelerating the Wasteland plan the deck sometimes moves to in the mid game.

This is the current list I'm working with

-19/10-
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Spell Queller
3 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Vendilion Clique

-5/2-
1 Umeazawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

-17/13-
2 Ponder
3 Stifle
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will

-20-
3 Wasteland
3 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Tundra
3 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Karakas
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains

and my current sideboard:

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2 Containment Priest
2 Enlightened Tutor
1-2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Grafdigger's Cage
0-1 Rest in Peace
1 Detention Sphere
1 Phyrexian Revoker
5-7 flex

Why Queller?
Queller was originally a 1-of I was trying out that won me a couple matches the day I added it to some random bant pile. Since then I've explored it quite thoroughly and am still convinced it is, in fact, pretty good.

One of the biggest advantages of Queller is the fact that it *doesn't* counter the spell. One would often see this as a potential downside, but it means:
* Loam and Pfire are gone until they kill the queller, who is conveniently bigger than Pfire's damage
* Snapcaster can't access the spell, so they have to dig for it
* Your opponent makes plans/play-lines based around the fact they can potentially get their spell back; which may open lines for you (such as Stifle or Stutter) to block the removal or the second spell.

Additionally, Queller's other main features are it's sizable body and Flash. Being able to take on Mirran Crusader is a feat that most things in the format can't say; especially a card that looks Anti-combo on the surface. The fact that Queller can easily just be an ambush viper for the majority of creatures in the format makes it that much easier to gain actual CA off of it.

Finally, highlighting flash, flash allows you to hold your mana open for counters OR deploy psuedo-'hasted' threats; perfect for untapping, equipping, and swinging. This helps dramatically against D&T and Miracles, for example, or just applying pressure on combo.


Synergies and Core Card choices
These can be found on the previous thread and I'll fill it out better when I'm not lazy. Here's the primary synergies:

* Noble/Stifle - You want to be ahead on mana for fair decks, or at 3-5 mana ASAP against unfair. Stifle also helps with your combo MUs due to your unconventional slow-counters (stutter/queller) and can be used to keep Quell'd spells exiled; and Stifle also shores up the Storm MU.

* Stutter/Queller - Flash Flyers are excellent sword carriers. The fact that they both have potential CA attached to them and allow you to continually play (almost) everything on your opponent's turn. Every time your opponent fetches, casts a cantrip, casts a threat or an answer, they have to ask you. The fact that Flash Flyers are also excellent against Planeswalkers is helpful.

* Clique - Clique not only fits the Flash/Flyer paradign and boosts Stutter, but it also is proactive rather than reactive. Being able to EoT Clique applies a lot of pressure on your opponent if they're trying to sandbag their way through all your counterspells. Clique not only interacts in a different way, but applies good forward pressure that moves the game forward. One of the best hands/plays you can do is have Noble->Queller or Clique; quelling their spell T2 (depending on MU) or Cliquing EoT after you determined to save your queller; swinging for 4 T3 and holding up counterspells.

* SFM/Equips - I take the non-blue approach to SFM and simply run 2/2 or 2/3 package; good for finding what I want without filling up on equips and mediocre dudes. Normally I hate BSK anyway; so I've finally committed to simply having Jitte SoFaI, and maybe SoLaS. Her ability syncs up with your counter-dudes because you can spend your saved mana to drop in the equip.

* KotR - The worst MUs of the Esper version were S&T and Eldrazi. Knight happens to solve that while also shoring up the Marit Lage MUs and being an absolute house of a beater in many cases now. The fact we run Stifle and Waste allows him to support an anti-mana plan when needed. He also shores up Reanimator pretty well.


Experimental cards:
* SCM - While Snap is good, he's also reactive. The push-pull of trying to get threats on the board against Storm or similar is obnoxious as you fill your hand with only reactive cards or have to play suboptimally. Currently Clique fill these slots to go for more of a tempo approach. That said, SCM is still worth trying out

* Teferi - I haven't casted him yet; but in theory the fact he untaps your mana, gives you an out to Ensnaring Bridge (or other obnoxious permanents) and has loads of CA attached to him seems like a catch all. Also, he's an out to B2B and Choke; allowing a couple of your lands to untap that wouldn't normally. It's worth noting that he effectively costs 3 if not countered; which leaves mana open for your dudes; a nice synergy to have.

* Garruk Wildspeaker - Probably garbage? but his +1 untaps your lands (which means you get to hold your mana open the turn you drop him), his -1 helps with Walkers, and his -4 (which can be done the second turn he's down) can turn your anemic threats into game-enders. I think if the deck starts struggling against Control I'll move this direction, as he functionally costs 2 against most decks and can apply a lot of pressure. We'll see if I ever get around to testing him. Like teferi, it also makes him an additional out to Choke and B2B; allowing you to play normally or potentially even play B2B or Choke yourself.

* Abeyance - The synergies are real and the cantriping is obviously of note. I think these will eventually take up the Ponder slots and maybe the SoLaS slot. The fact that it time-walks Depths decks

* Bojuka Bog - While I keep a lot of grave hate in the side, it'd be nice to have KotR be able to interact with combo so that more hands are usable/reliable. So many decks rely on the grave right now that over-loading on grave hate seems fine. Not sure if it belongs in the Side or Main yet; but from the SB in practice it felt alright; and felt good enough to consider the main despite my misgivings about it.


Sideboard:
* Tutor Boards help a ton for combo and is occasionally useful for fair decks

* Canonist comes in against a lot more than you'd think. 1-sided counterspells are brutal against combo and makes your counter-dudes that much meaner. The fact that if they kill Queller they don't get their spell back is a very nice synergy.

* CPriest - NOTE: she doesn't combine well with queller; but still comes in more often than you'd think. As a flash-threat she often is good for any combo deck just because you can hold your mana open more reliably; aside from turning off Vial, Elves, Sneakshow, and grave decks.

* Cage - Mostly for T1 or low mana hands next to tutor. A 1-lander with Tutor can still tutor and cast cage by T2.

* RiP - Less good now than it was since there's a lot less lands and a lot more Depths. Still, I've been keeping it for now as a hedge.

* DSphere - This can be Engineered Explosives, or another card that is a tutorable sweeper. I've gone with Sphere for now because it's cheap, Blue, and hits Show&Tell. The main reason this card is here, however, is that it makes Tutor much better against Storm. You may Tutor for a Canonist to block them, or if they already went off you can tutor for Sphere/EE/Ratchet/etc in order to pop Empty The Warrens tokens; giving you 3 outs to the tokens (aside from Jitte; which you probably sided out.)

* Revoker is mostly useful for locking out Sneak Attack; but also helps for D&T and is worth siding to eat LEDs.

Flex Sideboard:
* Venser, Shaper Savant - Flash threat that happens to buy you a turn in most cases where you use him. Keep Jace off the table for a second. Also further helps with Sneakshow/Reanimator/etc as additional answers. The fact he bounces anything and you have a tutorable Karakas makes him useful for getting out of all kinds of locks. Can seriously screw with weird decks too, like Enchantress.

* Tsabo's Web - D&T is one of our weirder matchups and Web happens to do collateral damage on Lands meanest cards while being psuedo-land destruction against Turbo depths. It cantrips, is tutorable, and buys you lots of tempo. Careful with your Karakas and Wastelands however.

* Suppression Field - Could be alright if going for the mana-screw plan and it hampers D&T, Lands, and Turbo quite a bit; while making Sneak harder to activate and Griselbrand often doesn't get to draw cards; but it does bite you pretty badly as well. Careful!

* BEB..

* Scryb Ranger - One I'm still tempted to try in the main as a 1 or 2 of. It helps get you out of Choke, B2B; it helps ramp you or play on only 2 lands. It teams up with KotR to deliver more lands to the grave/field. It's a Flash Flyer to boot and blocks delvers while pumping Stutter. Very tempting.

* Needle - For when Revoker doesn't work or when you need an extra effect; nice to have at different mana costs; Revoker edges it out IMO if only running a single effect since it dodges Chalice and attacks; but Needle hits Depths, Lands, etc. so is worthwhile for considering a second slot. A compromise could be Spyglass.



official record post-DRS ban: 5-2; _________________Breakdown: 3-1, 2-0-1 (ID)
official record pre-DRS ban:
Local Tournament Performance: 14-2-2; ___________Breakdown: 3-1, 3-0, 3-0-1, 3-0-1 (ID), 2-1
MTGO League Record: 28-15; ____________________Breakdown: 3-2, 3-2, 4-1, 4-1, 0-3, 4-1, 3-2, 4-1, 3-2