Ross played a very clever Bant Heroic list on the weekend, Top8ing the Open in the process.
His list main boards an additional Seeker of the Way raising the total creatures to 21.
His mana is similar to the traditional UW Heroic eschewing 1 Temple of Enlightenment for a Forest, reducing to 1 Island and 4 Plains to make space for a full playset of Windswept Heath and Mana Confluence.
The green introduction allows him to run a playset of Dromoka's Command, a powerhouse card in this build that gives him interaction, enchantment removal and red removal protection at the opportunity cost of copies of the traditional protection suite of Center Soul and Ajani's Presence plus a small mana stretch.
I love that this build, as opposed to Jeskai, places no additional pressure on ETB Tapped lands, maintaining the original appeal of the UW build: Dynamic speed. Dromoka's Command opens several options for the build and combos amazingly with Favored Hoplite.
The other two interesting decisions come in the sideboard. 2 copies of Monastery Mentor were included and boarded in in almost every matchup that slowed down in response to removal. I guess he's looking more towards inevitability in these instances. Further, 2 copies of Encase in Ice provided strong hate for the glut of RG decks that dominate the meta.
I think Encase in Ice is an important sideboard card for the Jeskai build, if I don't find the budget to switch over to Bant. This being said, seeing the power of Dromoka's Command, I am sorely tempted to see if I can make it happen.
Ross also shifted over to a full four copies of Stubborn Denial, rightly reflecting the move away from a focus on planes walkers and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in the current meta. The meta where I am is a little different though, not as many who can fully embrace the RG builds (although they've been successful so that may shift).
Ultimately these two builds ask the following question: Reach of Temur Battle Rage versus speed and interactivity of Dromoka's Command and an untapped mana base.
Oh, and cost. I'd need 4 Dromoka's Command, 3 Windswept Heath, 1 Mana Confluence... Fortunately I already have a copy of a basic Forest!
