Standard

Deckbuilding Exercise: Bant Control

Have you ever grabbed GerryT’s latest list, taken it to your FNM, and ended up with a 1-4 record? Gotten up super early to build the list that won the latest tournament somewhere across the world, only to 0-2 drop at your PTQ?

There are, of course, multiple factors that lead to such results, but the big one that I see people run into constantly is that the deck they copied was not a good choice for their metagame. So today, we have a bit of a long article, in which we try to go through the process of building and tuning our deck for a local metagame.

Our goal: build the best control deck for our expected metagame.

A true control deck, in my opinion, is a deck that tries to get to the late game by making its opponent’s plays irrelevant, and has a nigh-unbeatable endgame.

Why would we want to build this deck? Well, with [card]Thragtusk[/card] running rampant, games are going longer, so we can reasonably expect to get to the late game. If we have the solution to winning then, we can expect to win a lot of matches. I think the best endgame in Standard is [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] plus [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card]. If you can grossly outdraw your opponent, and you have enough relevant answers in your deck, your opponent will never have a chance to beat you, as you should have more answers than they have threats. This is especially true if you can reuse your answers, and prevent yourself from being decked, by playing [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card].

If this is the deck we are building, what are the pieces that we are most definitely going to play? In other words, why are we building this deck this way, with these colors, etc.?

Must-Haves

4 [card]Thragtusk[/card] – The best card in Standard, good against both aggro and control
X [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] – The second best card in Standard, leading to the best endgame
1 [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card] – Combines with [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] for the best endgame
X [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] – Standard’s best sweeper
X [card]Restoration Angel[/card] – The best card to combine with [card]Thragtusk[/card], also good against aggro and control
4 [card]Farseek[/card] – Helps play all these awesome spells reliably, helps keep up with aggro and get in the lead early against control

Out of these, the only card I could see not being obvious is [card]Farseek[/card], as your manabase is pretty good without it and you could play more relevant spells in the early game to not need it. However, that makes your late game worse, and having the best late game in Standard with [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] is one of the main reasons to play this deck, so I am not cutting the [card]Farseek[/card]s.

Remember the goal we started with: we want to be the control deck in every matchup, meaning we want to have the best endgame of the decks around us. If we compromise this goal, why are we building this deck?

The next step if I am building a deck from the ground up would be to build the manabase for the deck and adjust it for color requirements later. If you build a deck and only to find out later there is no way to put together the cards you selected because the mana doesn’t work out, you’ve wasted a lot of time. In this article, we’ll leave it for later, as plenty of people before us have proven that Bant mana bases can work in this Standard.

Let’s take a look at some of the other cards we can play, and in what matchups they shine or disappoint. We should have a general idea of what cards are played in this archetype thanks to Daily Event results, SCG Open results, etc. Preferably, this information comes from playtesting the cards, but if you’re building a test-deck, feel free to theory-craft and adjust later.

Creatures

[card]Augur of Bolas[/card] – Good if you play enough instants and sorceries and if the body is relevant. Against control, the body is not because one power is not going to make a difference, but against certain aggro decks (like WX Humans or BR Zombies) it is because it blocks 2/Xs very well.

[card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] – Good with a lot of spells that you want to cast twice (like counterspells and removal rather than [card]Farseek[/card] and [card]Supreme Verdict[/card]). Snapcaster goes up in value if the body is relevant; we aren’t attacking with it, and as a blocker it’s passable against only the most aggressive of decks like BR Zombies and Mono-Red. Snapcaster is not great with [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card].

[card]Borderland Ranger[/card] – Good in attrition matchups, helps make land drops, but like [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] has a relevant body only against specific decks. Also, as a three-mana sorcery-speed spell, it probably won’t be played together with [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card].

[card]Centaur Healer[/card] – Does nothing relevant against other control decks except maybe attack a planeswalker if they aren’t stuck with removal spells in their hand. The Centaur is good against aggressive decks, though, as a 3/3 blocks and survives against a lot of aggressive creatures and trades with ones you really want dead, like [card]Hellrider[/card] and [card]Geralf’s Messenger[/card].

[card]Loxodon Smiter[/card] – Good against counterspells and [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card], and has a big body that blocks well. However, its upside besides blocking well is mostly irrelevant because we are not planning on doing much with a 4/4 against decks that play counterspells or Liliana, so it’s fighting for slots with [card]Centaur Healer[/card].

[card]Restoration Angel[/card] – Already mentioned in the Must-Haves section, but we have to decide how many we want. Restoration Angel’s major functions in our deck are going to be blocking, attacking resolved planeswalkers, and blinking [card]Thragtusk[/card]. It is not there to pressure opponents, as we try to get to a game state where we can basically kill them with anything, so any damage it deals is mostly irrelevant. We can probably make do with as few as one against control decks, as I intend to have other answers to planeswalkers as well (preferably ones that don’t die to a removal spell), but we could use more against aggressive decks.

[card]Rhox Faithmender[/card] and [card]Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice[/card] – Lumped together as they fill the same role. Neither is good against control; thus, both are only a sideboard consideration in aggressive matchups. They cost four and so are slower than, for example, [card]Centaur Healer[/card]s, but they can put you quickly out of range if they survive. Trostani is better if you play more creatures; Faithmender is better on its own. Both are great with [card]Thragtusk[/card].

[card]Sigarda, Host of Herons[/card] – Good against decks like Jund. It blanks almost all of their removal (be wary of blocking if they can overload a [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card]) and can attack planeswalkers. It is not great against aggressive decks, as it is a bit slow. It is a reliable blocker in most matchups, though.

[card]Armada Wurm[/card] – Good against decks like Jund, where most of their removal doesn’t interact profitably with it. It’s also good with [card]Restoration Angel[/card]. It does cost six mana, and is thus often too slow against aggressive decks. Also it attacks worse than Sigarda with all the [card]Thragtusk[/card]s around.

[card]Deadeye Navigator[/card] – A “cool” card which doesn’t get much consideration, but if you end up facing more tap-out control decks, this could be the endgame you are looking for. Blinking [card]Thragtusk[/card]s, [card]Armada Wurm[/card]s, [card]Borderland Ranger[/card]s etc., while being resilient to removal (not sweepers though) could be good.

[card]Angel of Serenity[/card] – The endgame in a lot of Bant control decks, this Angel can act like an expensive sweeper against aggressive decks or as a value card in attrition-based matchups by targeting your own dead creatures. Angel is very powerful, but our endgame is generally more powerful. Even if they get back three [card]Thragtusk[/card]s, we should have plenty of answers to whatever they are trying to cast by the time they can start casting these. Combined with [card]Cavern of Souls[/card], this might be more of an issue, but the same idea is true: who would you rather be, the guy who just resolved his [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] with two cards in his hand, or the guy with 13 cards in his hand?

Spells

Because [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] is an instant, we prefer instant speed over sorcery speed. If we have multiple spells that we can play at instant speed, it becomes harder for our opponent to play against us, since it is hard to play around everything we could possibly have.

[card]Azorius Charm[/card] – Good against aggressive decks and passable as a cycler against matchups where it does nothing. Charm is likely the best removal spell because of its cycle mode.

[card]Cyclonic Rift[/card] – An all-purpose bounce spell that can double as a “sweeper” in the game. However, it is not a permanent answer, so its value is related to how much you can profit from the tempo. The more creatures and planeswalkers you play, the better this gets.

[card]Essence Scatter[/card] – Good against decks with creatures you’d like to counter, which means threats that will either have an immediate impact on the game or that are good against sweepers. Think of [card]Silverblade Paladin[/card] and [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] for the first category and [card]Thragtusk[/card] and [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] for the second.

[card]Negate[/card] – Good against must-counter spells like various planeswalkers and the anti-[card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card], [card]Rakdos’s Return[/card]. Not so great against [card]Slaughter Games[/card] (I’ve tried, so you don’t have to).

[card]Selesnya Charm[/card] – Good if the 2/2 creature is relevant or if you expect a lot of [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card]s and the like. If you play Sigarda, this can also help push her through [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] or [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card].

[card]Detention Sphere[/card] – Good all-purpose removal spell-extra good against token decks; less good against decks with a lot of [card]Detention Sphere[/card]s if you want to remove those. In that case, use [card]Oblivion Ring[/card].

While we prefer instants, having an answer to something that slips through is useful. We want to be able to answer every possible play by our opponents after we cast [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] multiple times and possibly see our entire deck more than once.

[card]Dissipate[/card] – Good all-purpose counterspell if your manabase can support it. [card]Dissipate[/card] is extra good against Reanimator.

[card]Selesnya Keyrune[/card] and [card]Azorius Keyrune[/card] – Both help to ramp to five, so if we want that effect, these go up in value. They are good against tap-out control decks with little instant speed removal, and the [card]Selesnya Keyrune[/card] blocks well against more aggressive decks.

[card]Think Twice[/card], [card]Divination[/card], [card]Amass the Components[/card], [card]Inspiration[/card] – All alternatives for Jace if matchups where he isn’t good are prevalent. Out of these, [card]Think Twice[/card] and [card]Amass the Components[/card] are the most powerful, and the choice between these depends mostly on your curve and how much being an instant is worth in the matchup.

[card]Jace, Architect of Thought[/card] – Good against decks where his +1 ability is relevant, such as against aggressive decks with small creatures, like UW humans or Zombies. Less good against decks with bigger creatures (Jund, Reanimator) or in matchups where you don’t want to tap out (UW Flash variants). His -2 ability is good, but probably not worth four sorcery-speed mana on its own.

[card]Rewind[/card] – Could be a fifth [card]Dissipate[/card], if needed. Could maybe replace a [card]Dissipate[/card] if we end up on a ton of [card]Restoration Angel[/card]s.

[card]Tamiyo, the Moon Sage[/card] – Good if we expect to be able to lock down our opponent’s only threat, after a sweeper for example. Her ultimate is a legitimate win condition if we have anything relevant in our hand, and she can draw cards if needed. If we want another [card]Detention Sphere[/card] effect against cards that we can’t or don’t want to sweep, having a Tamiyo is an option.

[card]Garruk, Primal Hunter[/card] – Potential card draw engine, good against [card]Thragtusk[/card]. Garruk could be good against control if we can reliably resolve him (unlikely against UW Flash-too many counterspells). His ultimate isn’t very relevant, as people are well prepared to deal with hordes of tokens ([card]Detention Sphere[/card], [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card], [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], [card]Sever the Bloodline[/card]) in the matchups where he is good.

[card]Jace, Memory Adept[/card] – All three abilities are good in matchups where he is unlikely to be attacked. He is also a reasonably fast win condition, if needed, but is most likely sideboard material.

[card]Terminus[/card] – Next best sweeper, sometimes better than [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] against Zombies, especially if they have [card]Blood Artist[/card]. Having a mix of sweepers is also good against [card]Nevermore[/card] out of the UW Humans deck’s sideboard.

[card]Temporal Mastery[/card], [card]Entreat the Angels[/card], [card]Horncaller’s Chant[/card], and other 7+ mana sorceries – The reason I included [card]Horncaller’s Chant[/card], is not because I would ever play it; the text on these cards is nearly irrelevant. By the time you can cast them profitably, you should have the game won. Obviously, if you happen to “hallelujah” either miracle at the exact right time, that could be good. If there were fewer answers to [card]Entreat the Angels[/card] being played, I would consider it, but right now [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] is our endgame of choice. [card]Temporal Mastery[/card] goes up in value if we play a lot of planeswalkers.

Specific hate cards

For our sideboard, we can try to defeat certain linear decks with cards geared to beat those decks. For example, against Reanimator, we can defeat their entire reanimation plan with [card]Rest in Peace[/card]; however, that hurts our [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card] plan too. [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card] might be better, and perhaps even [card]Ground Seal[/card] is just fine. [card]Ground Seal[/card] has the added advantage of being good against [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card]. More narrow hate cards include things like [card]Pithing Needle[/card], which works against Innistrad lands such as [card]Kessig Wolf Run[/card].

Putting it together

Now, we look at what kind of metagame we expect. Are there a lot of players playing UW Flash decks? Zombie decks? Reanimator? Are the better players all playing a certain deck? This could matter, for example, if there are a lot of inexperienced players at your tournament that all play Zombies, but they never make it to the top of the standings, where the better players are cleaning up with UWR Midrange. Both of those decks need a different approach, and skewing your deck one way might cost you.

Let say we are building for a diverse metagame that leans towards Zombies, played both by newer players and by the hardened veterans. Your deck might look something like this:

[Deck title=”Bant Control for Zombie metagame by Jay Lansdaal”]
[Creatures]
*2 Augur of Bolas
*2 Restoration Angel
*4 Thragtusk
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*1 Elixir of Immortality
*4 Azorius Charm
*1 Essence Scatter
*4 Farseek
*1 Detention Sphere
*2 Dissipate
*3 Jace, Architect of Thought
*2 Supreme Verdict
*3 Terminus
*1 Entreat the Angels
*4 Sphinx’s Revelation
[/Spells]
[Land]
*1 Cavern of Souls
*1 Evolving Wilds
*1 Forest
*1 Ghost Quarter
*3 Glacial Fortress
*3 Hallowed Fountain
*4 Hinterland Harbor
*4 Island
*2 Plains
*4 Sunpetal Grove
*2 Temple Garden
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*1 Dispel
*2 Ground Seal
*3 Negate
*3 Centaur Healer
*1 Detention Sphere
*1 Dissipate
*1 Rhox Faithmender
*1 Supreme Verdict
*1 Jace, Memory Adept
*1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

This list should make sense if you followed along, but let me highlight the cards that make this list good against Zombies without giving up too much elsewhere.

– 2 [card]Augur of Bolas[/card] – We play plenty of instants and sorceries, and it blocks. It still cycles against control, and combined with [card]Restoration Angel[/card] might even give us some extra value.
– 3 [card]Jace, Architect of Thought[/card] – Jace’s +1 ability is good against Zombies, and it is still a card draw engine against control.
– 1 [card]Entreat the Angels[/card] main: Zombies has no answer against a fast Entreat pre-board, so this can easily earn some wins. You even get some advantage if they board in answers as you board it out after game one.
– You are not maxed out on shocklands and the M13 lands: in some games, these actually cost you tempo and, more importantly, life. That is very relevant when you are playing against fast decks.

The sideboard is mostly geared to help in control matchups, as the main should be well set up against the creature decks. We can cut the three [card]Terminus[/card], Entreat, and four [card]Azorius Charm[/card]s for the [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], Jace, and Tamiyo, and the counterspells. We can also cut down on Jaces for [card]Ground Seal[/card]s against UW Flash, or an extra [card]Detention Sphere[/card] against planeswalker-heavy decks.

Now let’s try a list in a UW Flash infested metagame:

[Deck title=”Bant Control for UW Flash metagame by Jay Lansdaal”]
[Creatures]
*2 Restoration Angel
*4 Thragtusk
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*3 Azorius Charm
*1 Detention Sphere
*4 Dissipate
*1 Elixir of Immortality
*1 Essence Scatter
*4 Farseek
*4 Think Twice
*1 Amass the Components
*4 Supreme Verdict
*1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
*4 Sphinx’s Revelation
[/Spells]
[Land]
*2 Cavern of Souls
*1 Forest
*3 Glacial Fortress
*4 Hallowed Fountain
*4 Hinterland Harbor
*3 Island
*1 Plains
*4 Sunpetal Grove
*4 Temple Garden
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
*1 Essence Scatter
*2 Ground Seal
*3 Negate
*3 Centaur Healer
*1 Detention Sphere
*1 Restoration Angel
*1 Rhox Faithmender
*1 Jace, Memory Adept
*2 Terminus
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]

In a control mirror, all you want to do is draw cards and make land drops. You have a second [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] in this build and are maxed out on shocklands, as the life loss is less relevant.

Because UW Flash is so prevalent in this fictive meta, we have the full suite of [card]Think Twice[/card] over Jaces; we have the full suite of [card]Dissipate[/card] main; and we have fewer creatures main. Our sideboard is geared to shore up the creature matchups but also has extra counters for the UW matchup.

Questions for the reader

Now, how would you build this deck in a Reanimator-heavy environment? Maybe you play a [card]Ground Seal[/card] main? You probably don’t want Jaces, and you might want more Tamiyo’s or [card]Detention Sphere[/card]s. Keep in mind that they might cut their reanimation spells for [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] after game one.

How about if you expect a lot of mirrors? Do you board an extra Elixir of Immortality? Do you play a maindeck [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card] with a [card]Nephalia Drownyard[/card] and board in [card]Pithing Needle[/card] against Elixir? Or do you go even further and splash red and black to board in [card]Slaughter Games[/card] for [card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card] (not Thragtusk!)?

If UW dies out because of a major increase in [card]Cavern of Souls[/card], how would you build a tap-out style deck? You might want more planeswalkers, [card]Borderland Ranger[/card]s, [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] and [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card].

Think, try, and conquer.

Good luck constructing your masterpiece!

Jay Lansdaal
iLansdaal on Twitter and MTGO

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