Dark Bant Control:
As you can see, it has the basic Bant Control shell (4
Sphinx's Revelation
, 4 Thragtusk, etc.) with the black splash for
Nephalia Drownyard
. The big differences is the inclusion of 4
Centaur Healer
as well as 1 Thespian's Stage in place of a
Nephalia Drownyard
in the mainboard as opposed to the sideboard. I expect the meta to be fairly heavy on aggressive decks and to be perfectly honest, I never really liked Augur of Bolas, but I have been fairly impressed with
Centaur Healer
so far, as it allows you to get in some early damage against control which causes them to act, which opens up opportunite for you to resolve more spells. Granted, it does make their sweepers better, which isn't exactly the best thing, but, as I said earlier, if they are spending mana to deal with
Centaur Healer
, then I should be able to resolve other things during my turn or at the end of theirs, so the pros and cons do even out a bit.
Of course,
Centaur Healer
is much better against aggressive decks and kind of makes those matchups a bit laughable when you consider Thragtusk is also in the deck and
Rhox Faithmender
coming out of the sideboard.. Add in Rapid Hybridization and the dreaded Thalia, Guardian of Thraben matchups become far less threatening. Turns out those matchups are won and lost by being able to sweep early enough to have a decent lifetotal; the extra lifegain provided by
Centaur Healer
combined with Rapid Hybridization's ability to kill Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Silverblade Paladin on the cheap, allow you to do that more often than not.
Which brings me to my next point, Rapid Hybridization is an awesome card. Period. Whether your nuking down your opponent's haymaker critters or targeting your own Thragtusk, if your opponent has the nerve to Ultimate Price it or whatever, it's just fantastic. On color, instant speed spot removal really gives Bant Control the extra push it needs to consistently be competitive against the faster aggro decks and I don;t think I would run less than 2 right now. Still don;t believe me? Then let's do a little test: Good against Olivia Volderan - check, good against Thundermaw Hellkite - check, good against Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - check, etc. There rea;y are only a handful of creatures Rapid Hybridization isn't great against, but it still has the ability to "Fog" a creature to save some life if need be (though it usually gains some power and toughness when it becomes a 3/3 Frog Lizard, which can be annoying if you don;t find a relevant follow up card), I guess my point is,when you look at all the other pieces of spot removal in the format right now Rapid Hybridization is certainly better than most other options and on par with the rest (FYI, they all have a drawback of some sort: Dreadbore is a sorcery, Murder has a tough cmc, Abrupt Decay can't kill big things, burn spells can only kill certain toughness creatures etc.),
As I mentioned earlier, I'm testing the Thespian's Stage in place of the second
Nephalia Drownyard
for now, to see if it has application against Esper Control to copy their
Nephalia Drownyard
or even to just color set myself if I need to 2 white for a Supreme Verdict or what have you. I'm not sure it's worth it it yet, but has been helpful in handful of matches where I needed a specific color and was able to copy a land on the battlefield to get it. Not to mention it still taps for colorless mana and it's not like I go around spending all my mana every turn, so holfing up 2 lands and this every turn should net me a copy whenever I want one, so I feel it has mostly upside, though sometimes I wish it was just another
Nephalia Drownyard
when I draw it and have nothing worth copying. A few more tests and I should know whether it's worth the slot or not. One thing worth noting, if you're not aware, this does nothing in conjunction with Cavern of Souls, so don't copy that land, it's pointless.
Skullcrack has been surprisingly easy to play around, so far; probably due to people not understanding when to blow it and when to hold it yet, but like I said, it hasn't really hindered me, so until it does, I'm not too worried about it. I don't really expect that to remain the norm, but I'll burn that bridge when/if I get there.
Merciless Eviction is basically just sweeper number 8 against aggro decks, with a little bit of tech against noncreature permanents tacked on. I might just end up going with
Terminus
number 4 if it doesn't hurt control as much as I think it should.
Psychic Spiral has been great so far. I wanted another Elixir of Immortality in the sideboard, but then I stumbled across that card and and felt it was better suited against control. Turns out I was right. I can;t believe it's an instant; lol. I've actually beaten a fellow Bant Control player who went for a big
Sphinx's Revelation
at the end of my turn, just to get instantly milled out with a timely Psychic Spiral from yours truly. It was glorious. He thought so too, lol.
The lone
Obzedat, Ghost Council
may look strange when you consider the fact that I need to have half of my black sources on the battlefield to even cast it, but against control you usually have a long time to set up and I haven't had trouble casting it as of yet (it can get fishy against Esper Control if they manage to mill it or 3+ black sources, but that's what the Elixir of Immortality and Psychic Spiral are for, after all).
At any rate, this is the deck I'm going to continue playing with and developing. I feel it has all the tools necessary to handle any deck out there and if you take the time to learn the subtle nuances of each matchup you should be successful.
As a side note, Frontline Medic can be annoying when it lands before you can profitably
Sphinx's Revelation
or if it gets flashed down in response to one, but most people won't be able to flash it in anyways, so you should be able to see it coming from a mile away, plus if you have enough mana on the battlefield you can just pay through it, so it's not that bad to have to play against, in most matches. To be perfectly honest I was trying to fit a couple in the sideboard here, so I could flash it down in response to any of the awesome X spells, but I'm not sure what to cut. The same is true for [[Boros Reckoner] against aggressive decks, but The 3 white required is probably a bit much to ask of my manabase, especially when I am going to NEED to cast it on turn 3 against RDWs and Boros Aggros.more often than not.
