Bant Company at its finest. Bant Company has taken over standard. With its ability to counter spells with Spell Queller and just take total control over the board with Reflector Mage and Collected Company, this deck is just too good and there is no answer for this archetype (yet).
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MAINBOARD**
Basically, I replaceD 4 copies of Bounding Krasis and 2 copies of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
. So, instead of running Bounding Krasis, I run 4 copies of Selfless Spirit. This card is good because it is a flyer and you can sac it to make other creatures indestructible. Also, with Archangel Avacyn
, you are able to sac Selfless Spirit which causes a board wipe and damage to your open when Avacyn flips. Hitting Selfless Spirit in response to an attack with Collected Company is just very good to have in any point of the game. Also, I decided to take out Bounding Krasis because the deck already runs enough controlling cards to take care of other creatures, and the addition of Thalia, Heretic Cathar which makes other creatures already come in tapped. Thalia, Heretic Cathar is also a great addition because of it's first strike, you don't have to worry about trading any creatures with her on the battlefield.
I believe that Nissa, Vastwood Seer
and Tireless Tracker are essential to the mainboard. With the card advantage that these two cards provide is just too much for other decks to handle. Also with Duskwatch Recruiter
you are able to get creatures from your deck as well as cast them for less mana if it is flipped. I chose to only run 3 instead of 4 because with a 3rd copy of Tireless Tracker you can start to hit clues for days.
And now, saving the best for last, is Spell Queller. This card is just too good of a card not to have 4 of in your deck. It is a card that demolishes midrange decks such as B/W Control and G/W Tokens. On the draw it can take care of a perfect curved out Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Languish. This card just puts Bant Company over the top and it is hard to find an answer for this beast of a card.
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SIDEBOARD**
When making my sideboard I thought about the current top meta decks. Bant Company, G/W Tokens, W/R Humans, B/W Spirits, and B/G/? control. These decks are very good as well and without the appropriate sideboard strategy, it is hard to compete with these decks post sideboard.
THE MIRROR
So going against the mirror is always gonna be annoying to play,and with the current power of Bant Company you have over a 50% chance to play against the mirror. So with these odds you must have an answer in your sideboard. To deal with the mirror I would sideboard in Negate, Declaration in Stone, Ojutai's Command, and Tragic Arrogance. Now this sideboard plan consists of a chunk of noncreature spells which could hurt your chances of hitting creatures with Collected Company, so you might want to sideboard out 1 CoCo with this sideboard plan. These cards provide you with many options to control the board. Of Course you have Negate and Ojutai's Command to counter CoCo and flash creatures. Then you have Declaration in Stone and Tragic Arrogance to clear the board if you are behind or if your opponent controls more than one Spell Queller.
B/G/? Control
When facing a control deck I would sideboard in Negate and Ojutai's Command. In this matchup Ojutai's Command is a very versatile option. There is never a bad time to cast it you can always draw and gain life because there is a very slim chance against control when you can counter a creature, but this card is still good because you can also return a Selfless Spirit which also provides another option around Ruinous Path, Ultimate Price, and Murder. Then of course you have Negate to counter any removal, planeswalkers, and Seasons Past.
SPIRITS/HUMANS
In these matchups you sideboard in Tragic Arrogance, Planar Outburst, Ojutai's Command, and Aerial Volley for spirits and Lambholt Pacifist
for humans. Of course against humans and spirits you are gonna be flooded with a bunch of early creatures. The answer for humans is Lambholt Pacifist
. This card provides a great defender in the first 4 or 5 turns and is also a great all around card when it is flipped. It is the perfect counter to an early push from the humans while you wait for enough mana to cast your sweepers, Tragic Arrogance and Planar Outburst. Against Spirits, you have Aerial Volley to deal with their aggression and any control aspect they try to provide. It is also great because it cost 1 forest and is instant, so it is a perfect counter against the spirits. Then you have Ojutai's Command which is perfect against these decks to counter any creature spells as well as return creatures or gain some life back from the early aggression or draw a card to put you even farther ahead in card advantage.
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CONCLUSION**
In conclusion, this rendition of Bant Company provides an answer to the meta as of right now. Im not saying it is the perfect deck. This is just a strong deck with many ways to just take complete control of the matchup. I won the first FNM undefeated and only dropped one game to Abzan Seasons Past in the finals. I went 6-1 and took home the gold and a chunk of EMN packs which is always nice. Thank you for spending the time to read my description of deck:Bant Company at it's Finest and please upvote and leave feedback in the comments if you enjoyed this deck. Thank you!
