Last week I shared my Bant Midrange deck for the Standard seat at the SCG Philly Team Open. While the team event didn’t go great for us, I still feel the Bant Midrange is a good choice going forward in Standard. Leading up to the event Azorius Control was thought to be the best deck, and Bant Midrange put up an 80% win rate against it through the rounds we played. Even with the small sample size, that is an encouraging result, and I like how the matchup felt.
This week I wanted to take a look at the deck again and talk about what I learned and how to move forward with the deck. Here’s my list from Philly last weekend:
Bant Midrange
| Creatures (25) 4 Paradise Druid 3 Brazen Borrower 4 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath 3 Questing Beast 2 Dream Trawler 4 Hydroid Krasis 4 Cavalier of Thorns 1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves Planeswalkers (7) 3 Teferi, Time Raveler 4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World Spells (3) 2 Growth Spiral 1 Time Wipe | Lands (25) 4 Breeding Pool 4 Temple of Mystery 3 Hallowed Fountain 4 Temple Garden 2 Temple of Plenty 2 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Castle Vantress 2 Island 3 Forest Sideboard (15) 2 Knight of Autumn 1 Thryx, the Sudden Storm 3 Mystical Dispute 2 Deputy of Detention 3 Disdainful Stroke 2 Elspeth Conquers Death 2 Time Wipe |
For starters, I really enjoyed the sideboard. It was able to attack the metagame well and gave me the tools I needed throughout the tournament. The only card I didn’t bring in at all were extra copies of Time Wipe, but I was still happy to have them in case they were needed.
The six permission spells were crucial to help Azorius Control, as I anticipated. The value creatures I had in the sideboard came in every game. Knight of Autumn was especially good against Azorius, to answer Banishing Light and Elspeth Conquers Death. Deputy Detention pulls double duty against Mono Red, a deck with predominantly x/1 creatures, killing a creature and blocking the rest.
Not everything felt great about the deck. Nissa, Who Shakes the World underwhelmed me, and I boarded them out regularly. Against Control Nissa seems like she would be good at applying pressure with 3/3s, but they are packing multiple sweepers that devastate your mana if you overextend with animated lands. Against aggressive decks like Mono Red, you want to lower your curve to interact earlier. You do not need to cast Hydroid Krasis for X=10 to win the game, and that’s what Nissa is trying to do. The other five drops—Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves and Cavalier of Thorns—provide more bang for your buck. Cavalier fuels your graveyard for Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, while Tolsimir can turn the tide of a game: two bodies, three life, and removal all in one card.
I didn’t enjoy Brazen Borrower either, but it feels more necessary to keep in the deck. The Petty Theft side isn’t great, but the 3/1 flier with flash provides better pressure against Control than Nissa’s animated lands, assuming you can get it in play before their Teferi, Time Raveler. Petty Theft is still nice to bounce a creature holding Embercleave, though. I never faced Wilderness Reclamation in the tournamnent, but both Brazen Borrower and Petty Theft seem strong in that matchup. Being able to bounce the powerful green enchantment at the end of second main phase is very important to shut of their combo potential.
Here’s where I’ve landed in my testing for Bant Midrange going forward in Standard:
Bant Midrange Revised
| Creatures (26) 4 Paradise Druid 3 Brazen Borrower 4 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath 3 Questing Beast 4 Cavalier of Thorns 2 Dream Trawler 4 Hydroid Krasis 2 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves Planeswalkers (3) 3 Teferi, Time Raveler Spells (6) 2 Growth Spiral 1 Time Wipe 3 Glass Casket | Lands (25) 4 Breeding Pool 4 Temple of Mystery 3 Hallowed Fountain 4 Temple Garden 3 Fabled Passage 1 Plains 2 Island 4 Forest Sideboard (15) 2 Knight of Autumn 1 Thryx, the Sudden Storm 3 Mystical Dispute 2 Deputy of Detention 3 Disdainful Stroke 2 Elspeth Conquers Death 2 Time Wipe |
The changes start with replacing Nissa. The deck needs help in the early turns against aggro decks. I tried Birth of Meletis but couldn’t make it work. Glass Casket however fills the job quite well. To be able to smooth out the draws and help against the aggro decks is very appealing. For now I’ve added three caskets plus a second copy of Tolsimir.
My other big revision came in the manabase. My original land choices felt too slow and punishing against aggressive opponents. There were a few times I had to shock for an untapped land against Red, which can be risky. The eight tap lands were nice to play off Uro, Growth Spiral, or Cavalier of Thorns, but playing them for your main land drop for consecutive turns really hurts. Therefore I leaned more on Fabled Passage, which fuels Uro and preserves our life total against Red.
Are you playing Bant Midrange in Standard? Let me know how it goes and what we can improve!
Zack a veteran grinder at this point plays most of his magic online nowadays. That doesn’t mean you won’t find him occasionally slinging spells at an Open or Grand Prix. Catch him streaming on Twitch to find where he’s at with all the formats.