try advent of the worm or sphinx's rev, for other ideas look at my bant deck

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bant-good-stuff-22-04-14-1/

claptonisgod95 I was actually thinking about Advent of the Wurm , any thoughts on something to take out? I had Sphinx's in here originally but I never really ended up casting it for more than 2 because of all my high costed stuff anyway. I'll check your out!

Dissolve or any counter cards are always good in a deck that runs blue. Like yourself I was impressed with Ajani, I use him to gather my walkers and put the pressure on. I think 4 Archangel of Thune might be one to much, but that's just my style of play. One last curve, Ajani allows you to get auras too, don't underestimate that! Unflinching Courage can be very helpful when needed.

Ravenboss91 Although I would love to counter things, the only time I would ever want to hold up mana is if I have a Prophet of Kruphix out to untap my lands on their turn. I'm trying to make this a "you need to answer this card, and this card, and this card... etc." deck :) I'm still iffy on 4 of her, but she's just soooo damn good! Unflinching Courage is definitely a great, specifically on a monstrous Fleecemane Lion , I'll definitely get some playtesting in with that, thanks!

I really like Bant Midrange in Standard right now, it seems like so much fun with gaining life and building large monsters

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice seems unnecessary, if you want a good blocker that gains life, Nyx-Fleece Ram is probably just better, and I do not see a reason for you to populate, the ram is also really nice with Archangel of Thune

Fleecemane Lion seems like a card you want to attack with in standard and maybe that is where you want to be with this deck, but I would have thought that you would be more interested in getting to the mid/late game, so a blocker or more interaction may be good in this slot

Ajani, Mentor of Heroes seems like a card that wants to be in this deck, especially since it draws cards, and I can imagine this deck running out of gas

I have a different take on bant midrange myself, but I am also insane, so if you want to have a look at a madman's ravings, you might want to look at Hours of Banting

Fibbe I definitely agree and bant is my favorite color combination so this will be the deck I stick with and work on :) I originally had Ajani, Mentor of Heroes in this build and I think I'm putting it back in instead of Trostani, Selesnya's Voice , you're right as it doesn't really fit the build. And I've been playtesting with Fleecemane Lion and Nyx-Fleece Ram and in more situations I really liked the ram, and the synergy with Archangel of Thune is just insane. Thanks for your input and give it a +1 if you don't mind! Checking out your deck now :)

This deck looks super fun and consistent, no big problems that I can see at first glance. +1

lombax Thank you very much man! It's definitely really fun, give it a playtest if you get the time :)

Nyx-Fleece Ram could probably be Brimaz, King of Oreskos , it blocks just about as well, and is a lot better threat than an 0/5, and combos in its own way with the Archangel. Also, I can't see why you wouldn't want to run 4 Coursers, that card is sweet, and with only 24 lands in your deck, you will almost always want one on turn 3. Nice deck though! Check out my Bant deck and let me know if you see any ways it could improve, Bant Mighty Meat-bags

corythackston I've actually been wondering where I could fit Brimaz, King of Oreskos and I think he might be an even trade for the Nyx-Fleece Ram . I have 3 of them, but I think I'm going to try 2 Brimaz and I'll add in another Courser of Kruphix because you're definitely right there, never feels bad to draw one of those bad boys. I'll check your deck out after I make these changes. Any suggestions on a sideboard?

Yeah, actually. Stormbreath Dragon and Desecration Demon are both problem cards for this deck it seems like, you could play Arbor Colossus in your SB to help deal with those =) Also, you have a ton of reactive cards, I don't like boarding in a bunch of answers and diluting the threat density of my deck, I play Angel of Serenity in my sideboard, it's pretty big game against Jund, MBD, MUD, and any of the slow matchups really (don't forget that it can re-buy your guys, so that when it dies you get 3 dudes back), and Garruk, Caller of Beasts because he can single-handedly end an attrition based match. Maybe cut a Pithing Needle , a Deicide , a Glare of Heresy , both Ready / Willing , and a Reprisal for 2x Arbor Colossus , 2x Angel of Serenity (I say two because in the Mono-blue matchup you want to take out your Elspeth's because they die to all of their flyers, and this card is nearly unbeatable to them), and 1x Garruk, Caller of Beasts . Also, if you play the straight black version of Mono-black a lot, I like Primeval Bounty against them. Post-board the green splash version will probably bring Golgari Charm in to deal with your Coursers and D-Sphere's, so it will be vunerable to removal, but the straight black version will usually just die to that card.

You don't need much hedging against aggro for this deck in the SB, Brimaz, Archangel, Courser, and Caryatids make for a good shell to beat aggro without much help from random anti-aggro cards, so I just hedge towards the slower matchups in my SB.

corythackston Stormbreath and DD are definitely the biggest issues, Kiora, the Crashing Wave is the best answer I have for them as of now :p Arbor Colossus is most definitely going in there! Angel of Serenity and Garruk, Caller of Beasts also sound like great options. I have Ready / Willing in there as an answer to Supreme Verdict in the control matchups, but I already bring in all 4 Mistcutter Hydra and that usually does the job for me. I was actually thinking about having a Garruk, Caller of Beasts in the main in place of an Ajani, Mentor of Heroes . Late game I end up using Ajani, Mentor of Heroes to find a threat, and with Garruk, Caller of Beasts I could find a few :p And also considering I only have 1 Ajani right now. Any thoughts on that? Making these sb changes now :)

I'm personally a fan of having both Ajani's, but I've never tested with Garruk in my mainboard. The +1/+1 counters make it really good, I've won games on the strength of being able to buff my smaller creatures into threats or stellar blockers. I guess if you draw enough of them you'll be in the money anyway. Garruk works best in decks that generate a lot of mana, which is why I don't run him MB in mine, just for the long matches where you'll hit plenty of lands throughout the game. Don't forget it's a little faster, and you can draw Planeswalkers with Ajani. So, my answer is if you plan on generating a lot of mana Garruk could be better, but it may be effectively the same thing only one mana more expensive if you just draw a bunch of creatures, but can only cast 1 or 2 spells per turn, only it may miss you out on drawing a Walker.

Now that I've typed all of that, Garruk and Prophet of Kruphix seem pretty sweet together, the Prophet basically doubles your mana every turn.

corythackston My thought process of adding him to the main is solely based around Prophet of Kruphix , allowing me to drop double the dudes. So far in playtesting it's been great when I draw him. Him being a 1-of means I don't get to draw him too much :p I'll let you know if it changes and I feel the other Ajani is necessary. Also, after more testing with Mana Confluence , I'm kinda just throwing it in there, it doesn't feel like it needs to be there, and the incidental life loss lost me a couple games that came down to the wire. I think I'm going to switch them out for 1 Plains and 1 Island.

Sideboarding is where I get messed up a lot. Most times I don't even sideboard because I don't know what to take out. When you get a chance, would you mind running through what's bad in certain matchups and what you would take out/side in during those matchups?

Such as MUD - +4 Mistcutter Hydra , +2 Angel of Serenity , +2 Arbor Colossus ?? (for all the flyers), +1 Deicide for Thassa, God of the Sea ?And those all seem like good options to me but I have no clue what to take out :p

corythackston I do know taking out the 2 Elspeth for the Angel, and I think Poluk comes out for Mistcutter, but aside from that I don't know :p

I don't think you need to take Polukranos out against mono-blue, all of their 1 powered dudes get eaten by him pretty easily.

Against mono-blue, I think Aetherling is too slow, as is Ephara. Kiora doesn't protect herself well enough to have a big impact on the game, and your slower planeswalkers will probably need to come out (Elspeth, Garruk). Idk about Ajani, I haven't played the card against them yet, I learned the matchup for my deck before that card was released. It doesn't seem very good, but I may be wrong about that because it lets you draw mistcutters I guess. That leaves you somewhere between 8-10 spots to fill, which can be your 4 Mistcutters, 2 Angels, 2 Colossus, and I would board in the two Rapid Hybridizations. If you can find another spot to shave go ahead and move the Deicide in I guess. Maybe Prophets, they're kind of slow.

Against Mono-black I'm not super excited about your sideboard options, I would bring in the Angels (mostly to rebuy your dudes from the yard) the Primeval Bounty, the Arbor Colossus, and probably the creature removal suite (though I would rather bring in sources of draw power). You want to cut the "dumies" (guys that just attack or block well for the most part) out of your deck for this match (so for you Polukranos and Brimaz). Also Prophet seems really bad, all of their removal is instant speed anyway, so flash isn't relevant, and you're drawing a 5 mana 2/3

Obviously this will change on the different flavor of UW based control (for instance, full-blown Esper laughs at Mistcutter Hydra) but you'll want to take out your Dummies again and bring in Mistcutters and Glare of Heresy. I feel like your sideboard is pretty weak to Rev decks, and considering how slow your deck is designed to win, it's pretty hard to beat Sphinx's Revelation + Elixir of Immortality in the late game. You may want to try and fix this. Don't overload on hate for that match though, too many people put too much priority on this match, when in reality BG devotion is the best deck in the format.

Against Junk Midrange your entire sideboard is live except Primeval Bounty, so bring in anything you want given what you've seen in game 1, I would cut Prophets as they're completely outclassed by the five-drops that they have, perhaps Polukranos, and if you see a lot of Obzedats, Reapers/Demons/Polukranos's and Elspeths then Kiora becomes a lot worse, if you see a lot of Blood Barons, Advents, and Archangels you'll want her. If you don't really know don't shave her, Kiora is a card it's better to draw in numbers in my opinion. I think you just want creatures that can block their huge 5-drops, so Angel of Serenity and Arbor Colossus seem good, but I can't be sure until I've tested it (which I haven't gotten around to yet).

Any other particular matchups you want advice on?

Oh yeah, mistcutters need to stay on the bench for Junk too, forgot about them =P

corythackston That helps a lot, thanks dude! :) I know I'm pretty weak in the sb for the UW matchup, any suggestions on what could help that? Also, I dropped Ephara in the main for a Bident of Thassa , I feel like I'll draw way more cards that way.

Yeah I think Bident is a little quicker.

What I usually do is to try and go toe-to-toe for them on the card advantage front by boarding in Ephara, Garruk, and against the Esper variant (but not Ciato Esper, that's different, lol) Angel of Serenity, along with my two Mistcutters, and board in my Aetherling to match theirs. That way I have a way to kill them quickly or put on a lot of pressure, or something to use all of my mana on and not worry about a counter in the late game, and inevitability if I resolve my Aetherling. For you, since you already have a lot of that stuff mainboard you could either play Advent of the Wurm or Voice of Resurgence. The more pseudo-haste you can get the better, and Advent threatens Jaces a lot better than Voice does, but Voice makes counterspells and Verdicts a lot worse, and it's a way to go underneath them.

There are two strategies against Rev decks that people try to employ postboard: going under them or going through them. If you want to go under them, cards like Ajani, Caller of the Pride , VOR, Boon Satyr, Mistcutter and the like are what you're looking for. The pro to this is that you try to kill them before Sphinx's Revelation takes over the game, but the con is that a lot of times you lose to Supreme Verdict. The other strategy, going through them is more what I have tried to do. This means going toe-to-toe with them in card advantage and running them out of answers. This is the strategy that BBD and CVM from Star City employ with their Jund Monsters list, and it's what I like to do. I've actually had people resolve really large Revs (like 7+ cards) against me and still won. Cards like Ephara, Bident of Thassa, Courser of Kruphix, and all of the Planeswalkers are good in.

Now, I would say that you already have some of the elements of beating them in the long game in your deck. If you try and bring in some of the going under cards I think you could provide sufficient pressure throughout the game to run them out of answers eventually. Voice of Resurgence is a great card to do that with. If you can keep your core late game draw sources in the deck and put the pressure on early with VOR along with your other guys like Brimaz and your Planeswalkers, I think you can give them no portion of the game that they own, which hopefully lead to a win.

By the way, I wasn't saying that your SB was poorly set up against them in a tactical way, you have good cards, but more of in a strategic way. I just don't like bringing in a lot of reactive cards like Deicide, Glare of Heresy, and other things to deal with D-spheres mostly. They won't necessarily have one in their hand, and even if they do, if you want to play a reactive game, they'll probably win.

Voice of Resurgence is really good in almost all matchups, which is why I play 4 in my mainboard. It forces mono-black to use two kill spells most of the time, or it keeps a Desecration Demon tapped down for 2 turns (or a mix of those =)). With mono black, the game is about attrition and any time they have to use two spells to kill one creature they're not gonna be happy. It constricts the way people play because they have to use their mana on their mainphase, whichs lets you keep important things alive since they can't get full information before using their removal, and don't for get it is a 2-for-1 when blocking against an aggro deck =) Also in a deck with Garruk, Archangel, Elspeth, Ajani, Brimaz, and 6 mana dorks those tokens can get incidentally huge, lol.

I have a question about my deck, what do you think of the two Bidents in there? Do you think they could be Kioras and be better? There are times where Bident is awesome, but it's only good situationally, I usually side it out in matches where I'm not the aggressor, which is a lot of the time and Kiora helps me defend myself. Also, my deck is really good at blocking so i think getting her to her ultimate would be easier than normal. In the situations where I'm not the aggressor, it can still draw me a card. I also can play the Courser/Kiora/Archangel combo that you've got going on here for kicks and giggles.

Sorry for the super long comment, I felt I needed to go in depth, haha.

Have you considered Prognostic Sphinx

Personally I have less of an issue running singleton creatures because you can use Prognostic Sphinx & Ajani, Mentor of Heroes to constantly draw the exact creature you need.

Because more then one Prophet of Kruphix on the board isn't really worth it.

I also don't run Garruk but run 3 Ajani, 2 Kiora, and 2 Elspeth. and a singleton Kruphix, God of Horizons which frequently turns on considering you have lots of Hybrid Creatures to turn it on and double UU creatures like Sphinx & Aetherling.

Pretty fun to add counters from ajani on him to force opponents to chump or have an answer. Not to mention a 2 of sphinx's Rev plays really nice with the unlimited hand size and mana storing.

corythackston Yeah I understand what you mean, main reason I'm not running VOR is because I don't have any :( I've thought about using him and Advent but don't really know where to stick them in. I definitely appreciate the in depth comment man!! For your deck, honestly I don't think 2 Bidents is necessary, because once you have the first one online, drawing a 2nd one is unnecessary. I would definitely go with a Kiora over a Bident. Same CMC so your curve doesn't change, and Kiora threatens ultimate soooo quick. I use her -1 if I'm desperate, or if I'm playing a deck with Hero's Downfall and I know I'm gonna get blown out after I play her, but just immediately tick up when you throw her down and it can turn the tide of the game!

stefanetrudel Actually I haven't considered Prognostic Sphinx yet, but that seems like a great option, I'm definitely going to try adding him. How many do you think is a good number? And I originally had Kruphix, God of Horizons in here but I ended up taking him out because he didn't do what I wanted him too :p

here is my creature base as it stands now

4 Sylvan Caryatid 1 AEtherling 4 Courser of Kruphix 3 Nyx-Fleece Ram 2 Prophet of Kruphix 1 Mistcutter Hydra 3 Prognostic Sphinx

and now the super spicy addition I tried to make in place of Kruphix, God of Horizons

1 Keranos, God of Storms

See I've tried to avoiding adding too many cards that will be rotating out. In the hopes that this deck will be able to continue to be played through rotation.

I'm running the full 12 scry lands along with 3 Mana Confluence 4 forest, 3 island, 2 Plains.

Meaning I have 7 sources that can create the red mana for Keranos. Who is mostly an enchantment in this deck. With the Courser's and all the Scrying provided from your Sphinx's you should be able to bolt them every turn then play a land off the top of your deck.

stefanetrudel Damn, that definitely seems pretty dope! I was contemplating putting Worst Fears in here as a 1-of because I know I could play it with Caryatids and Mana Confluence. Then I took Confluence out because it was unnecessary so I didn't look back at it. I definitely want to try out a Prognostic Sphinx but I feel like Archangel of Thune is the better 5 drop here, maybe I'll try dropping one of her and adding in one sphinx and see how that goes :)

Anyone else having trouble seeing the comments section?

If you use the rams, Increase Ajani numbers. Angel isn't as relevant. You can rely on courser lands, Ram for life gain and worst come to worst ultimate your Ajani since you have more copies.

Although I'm possibly toying with the idea of adding azorius charm to bounce and possibly the other options