Creature (29)
Land (20)
Sideboard
Creature (4)
Enchantment (5)
This is my take on Allies. I,ve been playing with Allies for years and have made many different variations. I started with the Zendikar W/G Adventurers deck that was sold in stores and upgraded through the years.
I've always approached Allies with an aggro-centric strategy. As my desire to build more decks using Blue began to grow, I decided it was a good time to make the build more combo based, and add a secondary win condition using Ghostway
+
Halimar Excavator
.This is the final result of that. My Bant Allies...
- Current Record - 3-5
- Win Percentage - 37.5
UNITED WE STAND,The Allies of Zendikar...
"If you hire a sellsword, you'd better watch your back. Hire me, I'll watch it for you."
Hada Freeblade
Our only one drop in the deck. Hada Freeblade isn't a bad option though. When it hits the field it will trigger itself and enter as a 1/2. Not bad as a start, but consider that all the other creatures in this build will trigger it's ability, meaning this one drop gets big fast.Kazandu Blademaster
Easliy the best value card for it's CMC here. Hits as a 2/2 for 2 white, with First Strike, and Vigilance. All the while being pumped by it's triggered ability. One of these on turn two usually demands your opponents attention immediately.Oran-Rief Survivalist
More or less a Grizzly Bears that gets bigger as the game progresses. Fits with our mana curve as an easy turn two play.Harabaz Druid
An extremely effective Ally that almost acts like an Aether Vial, but can play anything within its constraints. This makes it easy to run more than two colors, and makes casting our non creature spells a simple matter.Halimar Excavator
This is the reason for adding Blue to the build. This is our alternate win condition. One the surface it doesn't look like much. But lets do some math...
Turn 1, we drop our Hada Freeblade.
Turn 2, we play Halimar Excavator , making our opponent mill 2 cards.
Turn 3, we play another excavator, or copy the first by playing Jwari Shapeshifter. Both trigger for 3 for a combined 6 cards milled.Turn 4, we play another Hada Freeblade, mill another 8 cards, then play Ghostway. This makes all our Allies leave play and enter the field again at the end of the turn. When they enter, they each trigger 4 times for 4 cards milled each, for each Ally entering at the same time. So now each one mills a total of 16 cards, combining both mills for 32! Or we play Collected Company, 2 more Allies hit the field, assuming its not another Excavator of Shapeshifter, they will both trigger on both Allies entering for a combined 20 cards. Either way we take chunks of our opponents library and throw it into the yard.It's not uncommon to have our opponent completely milled by turn 5. And we can extend the game, allowing us to mill them out by defending with our heavy hitters, out gaining chunks of life from Ondu Cleric .Jwari Shapeshifter
A Phantasmal Image who's only drawback is that it only targets Allies, instead of being easier to remove with anything that targets. Not a problem here however. Preferably we want to copy a Halimar Excavator to mill our opponent even quicker. We can better prepare for a long game by copying an Ondu Cleric for huge lifegaining, of more brute force by copying any of the other more combat based allies. We can also chnage the copy after playing a Ghostway, allowing to use this when we get it, and copy the Ally we prefer when we're ready to combo off.Ondu Cleric
An argument could be made for running one more of these. Dropping this early game can lead to some serious life gaining, and almost always a win if it's not removed.Kabira Evangel
This is a win condition. It will grant you temporary protection from the color of your choice, helping to skate by enemy defenders, while also triggering all your other Allies abilities. More or less a sniper shot.Eternal Witness
I know it's not an Ally, but EW is crucial to this build. We want to trigger multiple ETB effects as much as possible. With EW, we can Ghostway, play EW, bringing Ghostway back to our hand, casting it again, then returning a spell from the yard again using EW!
WE GATHER FROM ALL CORNERS...
"I care nothing for treasure. The land beckons me, and I cannot rest until my feet have touched every inch of it."
Ally Encampment
Literally made to be ran in Allies, this is an obvious four-of for the build. Works with triggering our ETB effects if we need it to by sacking it to return an ally to our hand, and casting it again.Cavern of Souls
I would've added more copies had the build been more than 3 colors. Nonetheless, this is invaluable when playing control builds that want to kill our gameplan with counterspells. I elected only two copies primarily because we rely on casting our instant spells to blink our Allies to combo off and COS isn't able to produce colored mana for anything other than creature spells.Mana Confluence
Just in here for mana fixing. I avoid running to many since you have to take 1 damage each time it's used. The benefit though, unlike Cavern of Souls, or Ally Encampment, is that it can produce any color for non-creature spells.Windswept Heath
We run 4 copies as they're able to fetch any of our basic or shock lands.
ALLY SHOCK COMBAT
"Many can stand where one would fall."
Collected Company
All of our creatures can be dug out with this. The ability to drop in up to two Allies at instant speed can be devastating. The only drawback being, there's a chance you may dig into nothing but lands or other spells. Also you don't know what you're getting. Personally I prefer to use this defensively, whatever I bring out will be something my opponent wasn't counting on.We can also do the math early, and if 2 more allies would put us into range to mill out our opponent using Halimar Excavator , it's always worth the risk.Ghostway
The build just wouldn't be nearly as effective without this. Most of the time you will end a game by casting this with enough Halimar Excavator s of the field. We can also use it defensively, by declaring blockers first, then casting this to avoid letting our creatures die in combat, while at the same time avoiding combat damage directly to us.Ghostly Prison
We only put one in here as a stall tactic. But it's very effective once in play. It can extend the game to better serve our strategy, as this build only continues to get stronger as the game extends. Can really hurt aggro decks that are relying on a fast victory.Path to Exile
The absolute best removal available for the colors ran here. I don't feel any further explanation is necessary.
SIDEBOARD
"May the memory of our fallen heroes ensnare the violent hearts of lesser men."
--Great Threshold of Monserkat inscription
Melira, Sylvok Outcast
Infect is one of our toughest match-ups. It nullifies our best stall tactic in Ondu Cleric , and otherwise just flat outraces us. Our best mainboard answer is Path to Exile, which isn't always going to be enough against infect. I wanted a couple copies of Melira to bring in as an attempt to make this a more balanced match.Natural State
This could just as easily be a Nature's Claim. I settled on Natural State simply because the artifacts and enchantments i'm most concerned about are able to be removed with it, and it keeps my opponent from any life gaining. In the long run, I will probably trade these out for the latter, but as of yet, I haven't had a game hindering artifact/enchantment that couldn't be handled by Natural State pop up against me.Rest in Peace
In my opinion, the absolute best graveyard hate available. Make sure not to side in along with Return to the Ranks, as it is counter-productive.Return to the Ranks
I'll usually side this in against sweepers. But can also be used against builds running heavy removal to turn the tide in your favor.Spellskite
As mentioned above, Infect is a tough match for us. Spellskite not only offers extra protection from Infect, but can also slow down Burn, and Bogles. Which are also troublesome for us.Stony Silence
We don't like playing against speedy decks. We want these for extra insurance against Affinity.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
"Naga shed their scales. We wear ours with pride."
--Golran, dragonscale captain
Nature's Claim
It was a close call between this and Natural State. Eventually I see myself cycling these in as more artifact/enchantment threats emerge.March from the Tomb
I originally wanted to go with this over Return to the Ranks. But decided against it to avoid adding in a fourth color to the build.Hardened Scales
My older aggro version actually ran these. They cause the counters to stack up ridiculously quick and allow your creatures to easily overwhelm the opposition. Since this build is less aggro based and more focused on combo, these were edged out.
This concludes my Bant Allies build. Please feel free to leave suggestions. I'm very slow to make actual changes on here but I do playtest any suggestions made. I'm always looking to improve. Thank you!
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| Date added | 10 years |
| Last updated | 8 years |
| Key combos | |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 3 - 2 Mythic Rares 27 - 8 Rares 15 - 1 Uncommons 11 - 4 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.12 |
| Folders | Decks in Use, White Combo |
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