Last weekend the SCG Tour made a stop in Richmond, Virginia for week one of War of the Spark Standard, and I was fortunate enough to make Top 8!
You may remember last week that I wrote about the five decks I was considering for SCG Richmond. But the deck deck I made Top 8 with was not included—because I actually had no clue the deck existed until the day before the event! It was about three in the afternoon on Friday and I was at work trying to absorb Magic content on Twitch when I tuned into my friend Frank “Truedawn” Moon’s stream. He was playing and tuning what looked to be this absolute pile of “Bant cards I own.” As I watched though, he just couldn’t lose. I posted a screenshot of Frank’s list in the Team Nova facebook chat and Rudy immediately asked me to go and get the cards for the deck from the End Games.
On my way to the End I couldn’t stop thinking about how cool the Bant deck was, by the time I got there I was locked in on playing it.
Frank Truedawn Moon's Standard Bant Midrange
Truedawn’s list was exceptional against Nexus, White Aggro, Esper Control, and the other midrange decks, but the deck really struggled with Mono-Red, so I made some changes to shore up that matchup. Here’s the list I played over the weekend:
Harlan Firer's Standard Bant Midrange
The explore package of Wildgrowth Walker, Merfolk Branchwalker, and Jadelight Ranger is the only way I’ve found to truly fix the Mono-Red matchup. That being said, this approach to the deck has some fundamental flaws.
First, by removing both of Incubation Druid and Growth-Chamber Guardian, you only have Vivien, Champion of the Wilds to help mask leaving mana up for Frilled Mystic, making the card far less potent. Second, since you have fewer mana dorks, you’ll be playing fair in midrange mirrors more often without accelerating to your top end to take over the game. As a result, your opponent’s removal will feel more impactful as it will be played the turn after they’ve played to the board instead of the turn they were going to deploy a threat. Wildgrowth Walker is a powerful creature in the aggressive matchups but is almost a non-factor in the control and Nexus matchups, and comes at the cost of the Guardian chain, which is how you win most of your grindy games.
Taking the Red matchup and these new Bant Explore Decks into account, this is where my list is at going forward.
Harlan Firer's Standard Bant Midrange
I’m sticking to the original core of the deck. The second set of mana creatures is vital, and it was a mistake to remove. I have rearranged the manabase a bit due to struggling for a second white mana several times. All four of my losses in the event were to missing my fourth land drop on time. The deck has plenty of mana sinks and card advantage, so the extra land is unlikely to hurt much.
Going forward, the mirror could grow to be more prevalent than the Red matchup, and my list reflects that. I’ve left my main deck very close to what I played last week, and made changes to my sideboard to improve my Red matchup. Baffling End has been the single most important piece to winning games against the aggressive decks, and has been upped to four copies as a result. The Wanderer is a knockout punch versus Red when paired with Shalai, Voice of Plenty, on top of being a nice answer to cards like Rekindling Phoenix.
Lyra Dawnbringer felt almost like a liability last weekend with White Aggro playing Law-Rune Enforcer and Red sideboarding Tibalt, Rakish Instigator. I made the swap for Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves since you get the life and a removal spell up front and multiple bodies in play after. Prison Realm has been fantastic for the mirror and to combat opposing planeswalkers, which can be difficult to deal with otherwise.
I’m taking the week off from events to spend a nice weekend at home and see my Mom for Mother’s Day. Good luck to everyone competing in IQs or MCQs this weekend! I’ll be at SCG Syracuse next weekend and if you’re coming out, come say hey! And as always, I’m more than happy to answer any questions on Twitter.
Standard Bant Midrange Sideboard Guide
Mono Red:
+4 Baffling End
+2 Dovin’s Veto
+2 Prison Realm
+1 The Wanderer
+1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
-4 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
-3 Teferi, Time Reveler
-3 Frilled Mystic
Esper Control:
+2 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Dovin’s Veto
+2 Prison Realm
+2 Vivien Reid
-3 Deputy of Detention
-2 Knight of Autumn
-2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
-1 Incubation Druid
Simic Nexus:
+2 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Dovin’s Veto
+2 Vivien Reid
-3 Hydroid Krasis
-2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
-1 God-Eternal Oketra
White Aggro:
+4 Baffling End
+2 Prison Realm
+1 Time Wipe
+1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
-4 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
-3 Frilled Mystic
-1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
Bant Midrange:
+2 Baffling End
+2 Prison Realm
+1 Time Wipe
+2 Vivien Reid
-3 Frilled Mystic
-2 Knight of Autumn
-2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty