tier 1 bant??

DopeLikeYola · Joined: 06 Jul 2009 Posts: 7

so i was looking at the top decks of the week like usual, and it just hit me. i have yet to see a bant deck do good. what is wrong with it? will it ever be like a jund?

Conkisstador · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 378

it is fantastic but people are palying the wrong cards in it. rhox war monk is very well placed.

SJM · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 144

Jund can beat control via cascade card advantage and blightning + bolt and maelstrom pulse for planeswalkers.

Bant rolls over and dies to any control deck and has no way to handle planeswalkers.

Mr_Eko · Joined: 15 Aug 2009 Posts: 28

O-ring and C-purge for walker removal off the top of my head. Here is a quick list I have built, can win on turn 4 with right draws.

// Lands
3 [UNH] Plains
3 [ZEN] Sejiri Refuge
4 [ZEN] Island (1)
5 [ZEN] Forest (4)
2 [M10] Sunpetal Grove
4 [ALA] Seaside Citadel

// Creatures
2 [CFX] Rhox Bodyguard
4 [ZEN] Scute Mob
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
4 [ALA] Rafiq of the Many
4 [ALA] Jhessian Infiltrator

// Spells
3 [ARB] Finest Hour
3 [ALA] Hindering Light
3 [ALA] Bant Charm
4 [ARB] Ardent Plea
4 [M10] Whispersilk Cloak
4 [ZEN] Vines of Vastwood

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ALA] Hindering Light
SB: 1 [ALA] Bant Charm
SB: 3 [ALA] Oblivion Ring
SB: 4 [CFX] Path to Exile
SB: 4 [CFX] Celestial Purge
SB: 2 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage

trying to get protection on creatures is the main focus so you can hit with exalted.

JSUOversoul · Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 91

I don't think I would say Bant has NO way of handling 'walkers. It has access to blue & white, meaning at the very least it has Negate and Oblivion Ring, plus any deck can run Pithing Needle if no other answer is good enough.

Duodax · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 161

Bant was playable with Painlands. Fetchland and Seaside just pretend you can play Bant but doing this will lead you into failure...

ik · Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 286

One time, Duodax called me a netdecker for playing Spellbreaker Behemoth in 5c Elementals SB when he was playing UB Faeries.

EMA · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 52

I don't see how planeswalkers are a problem since all your guys get huge when they hit. The true problem of the deck is that u need to mulligan way too aggressively into a turn 1 Bop/hierarch for my tastes.

The list I was testing:

4x Noble hierarch
3x Bop
4X dauntless escort
2x Behemot sledge
3x Elspeth
4x Rhox war monk
3x Rafiq
3x bant charm
3x PtE
3x Qasali Pridemage
4x Baneslayer Angel

Again the deck problem is the mana, not having a single fixer land that enables your t1 accelerator except misty rainforest, that and Malakir bloodwitch

Jacois · Joined: 05 Sep 2004 Posts: 675

I think Bant needs a first turn Noble or birds to be competitive, so I would suggest 4 Ancient Ziggurats, 4 misty's and about 5-6 forests. U and W should just be splashed.

With the Ancient Zigg's, it's non creatures should be cheap an efficient, like Spell Pierce's and paths', or harm's way imo. Needle would also work nicely.

Arkasan Squire would be another nice 1 drop. Maybe cut the birds and have 4 squires, 4 Nobles.

QuaziPance · Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 19

I think it would be possible to make bant similar to the naya based lotus cobra/baneslayer type decks. Those decks work fine against the current metagame (though they are very expensive). Since you are already trying to accelerate (by running 8 one drop mana accell guys) it seems that you might want to run at least a few cobras, and at least a few baneslayers. I think the zigurats could work too to make sure you always have the mana for birds, noble, and rhox/dauntless, while still having the double white for baneslayer. spell pierce is also a good idea as jund usually will only leave open exactly the mana it needs to play bolt or maelstrom.

The real problem is that if you are spending that kind of money, naya probably wins more consistently and is probably more worthy of those baneslayers and cobras you probably spent almost $300 on.

SoloRenegade · Joined: 07 Oct 2009 Posts: 29

I've been doing VERY well with this build:

// Deck file for Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com)

// Lands
4 [ZEN] Plains (3)
3 [M10] Glacial Fortress
3 [M10] Sunpetal Grove
4 [ZEN] Forest (2)
3 [ZEN] Island (2)
4 [ALA] Seaside Citadel
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest

// Creatures
3 [M10] Acidic Slime
3 [M10] Baneslayer Angel
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
4 [ALA] Rhox War Monk

// Spells
3 [M10] Garruk Wildspeaker
3 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 [M10] Jace Beleren
4 [M10] Negate
4 [CFX] Path to Exile
4 [ALA] Bant Charm

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [ZEN] Luminarch Ascension
SB: 4 [CFX] Celestial Purge
SB: 4 [ZEN] Day of Judgment
SB: 3 [M10] Great Sable Stag

styx^ · Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

Mr_Eko your list is fail.

DopeLikeYola · Joined: 06 Jul 2009 Posts: 7

my bant deck goes ...

CREATURES (23)

x4 noble hierarchic
x2 enlisted worms
x2 bane slayer
x3 wall of denial
x1 knight of new alara
x3 knotvine paladin
x4 rhox war monk
x1 battlegrace angel
x1 stoic angel
x1 Jenara
x1 wall of reverence

Spells (18 )

x2 honor of pure
x4 path to exile
x2 bant charms
x3 brave the elements
x1 finest hour
x2 Elspeth
x2 Goldmane

LANDS

x2 misty rainforest
x4 island
x6 forest
x5 plains
x2 graypelt refuge
x2 sunpetal grove
x2 glacial fortress

and it does decent, any suggestions?

SJM · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 144

Bant, and decks like Bant before Bant was a word in the MTG nomenclature, have always died horribly to control decks and always will.

They are a metagame choice to beat decks like RDW and Jund. Except it doesn't beat Jund enough to justify playing it.

EMA · Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 52

That's exactly the conclusion I came to... The jund matchup is pretty much even. While I don't agree that it auto folds to random Doj control decks, it does lose to bad mana so I wouldn't recommend it right now unless someone solves the manabase.