I had fnm result in report thread,so I don't repeat that again.
something I want to discuss is SB and a few card selection. SB: my oldy sideboard still have timely and tree there,I think I will change to trinket mage + lifestaff &spellbomb package.
The singleton Myr will also switch to either corrosive gale,or beast within,or Act of aggression.
Any thought ?
MD thought:
1. Venser is slooooow,I am eager for 2nd Garruk,although venser still can do some sweet job.
2. I love my splash huntmaster,so much value he had earned for me
3. Township is definitely not a win more card,it can hold the board when you didn't draw some fuel.
4. IMO Emissary still more suitable than geist in bant ,expand manabase for some activation(pod,township,and etc) is very crucial .
Sideboard
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Divine Reckoning
1 Gideon Jura
1 Mimic Vat
2 Naturalize
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sylvok Replica
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tree of Redemption
1 Viridian Corrupter
Mimic vat and Venser are incredible in this deck. I usually stonehorn and image and bounce it a couple turns in a row till I sun titan into images of sun titan. I love ponder as I can usually shuffle away any non-birthing pod cards or fix my many.
Sideboard
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Divine Reckoning
1 Gideon Jura
1 Mimic Vat
2 Naturalize
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sylvok Replica
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tree of Redemption
1 Viridian Corrupter
Mimic vat and Venser are incredible in this deck. I usually stonehorn and image and bounce it a couple turns in a row till I sun titan into images of sun titan. I love ponder as I can usually shuffle away any non-birthing pod cards or fix my many.
Your list seems quite slow for me,4 bop is not enough ,not to mention your 2 cc drop is not enough either.
your 1~3 drop should be mana acceleration,mana fix &clone,and defence/fuel to pod ,in order to achieve those, you should keep those number on a stable basis,even you have ponder to help.
tifo, is a 3-2-1 split of 5 drops too narrow? I would want one more titan or slime in there.
Sideboarding is the biggest thing that I think we need in this deck. At least, it's the thing that I think I need the most help for.
As I see it, there are two big decks in the metagame at the moment: Wolf Run and Moorland Haunt. I think that we have a slightly favourable matchup vs Wolf Run, and unfavourable vs Moorland Haunt, largely because they can attack through so many different ways.
What do people think are the cards that we want to have vs Haunt decks? I see the following options:
1. Autumn's Veil vs counters
2. Acidic Slime vs Moorland Haunt
3. (Mimic Vat / Venser + Stonehorn) / Elesh Norn / Wing Spicer / Geist Honored Monk vs flyers / weenie swarms
4. Fiend Hunter / Daybreak Ranger / Dungeon Geists vs flyers
5. PI vs Geist of Saint Traft
Are they they things we should be attacking? Are they what the matchup hinges on?
How have others found the matchup(s) vs Moorland Haunt decks?
I too believe that venser can be too sloew. He's only good with an ETB effect creature, so...he's "combo" material
The other PW is garruk, and i believe he's the right choice.
Garruk act as removal. You can kill up to x/3 fliers that otherwise would be a problem.
He can give you some blockers/attackers when otherwise you would have none. And when he flips, you have a way to fetch the creature you need from the deck....ANY creature.
In a deck with so many 1-of, each useful in his own way in his own situation, i think a PW that lets you fetch the is a lot better than 1 that can interact with them only when they are actually in play.
@magicmerl : 3-2-1 split at 5 drop + of course doable,but possibly need to sacrifice non creature spot, which I don't like (I run 8 non creature,already think it's very tight).
And yes,mental misstep is great vs delver,I won a few times by that
You can also consider corrosive gale (decent vs esper spirit build),or try to use Glissa + bomb ( not very good imo unless your land can support B).
I even MD 1 daybreak ranger.
@toby : +1 what you say, I always SB out my Venser, that's one of the reason why I consider Venser too slow in current meta
@soulgix: Yes Garruk Relentless is pretty nice for pod deck,he's so versatile,the only problem is that it's hard to find a slot for him.
@magicmerl : 3-2-1 split at 5 drop + of course doable,but possibly need to sacrifice non creature spot, which I don't like (I run 8 non creature,already think it's very tight).
And yes,mental misstep is great vs delver,I won a few times by that
You can also consider corrosive gale (decent vs esper spirit build),or try to use Glissa + bomb ( not very good imo unless your land can support B).
I even MD 1 daybreak ranger.
Is mental misstep better than Autumn's Veil? Veil seems to do the job of forcing your bomb artifacts through counters AND stopping Vapor Snag. It seems like Corrosive Gale rounds out the options I want to try, but I'm unsure as to which is best.
How many cards do you have MD that you think are weak and want to cut in the Delver matchups? I can think of the following MD cuts from my current build:
2 Mimic Vat
3 Viridian Emissary
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Acidic Slime (I run 2 MD, so can go down to 1)
So if the SB plan is something like this:
1 Daybreak Ranger (I don't have one main)
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Mental Misstep
2 Autumn's Veil
Is mental misstep better than Autumn's Veil? Veil seems to do the job of forcing your bomb artifacts through counters AND stopping Vapor Snag. It seems like Corrosive Gale rounds out the options I want to try, but I'm unsure as to which is best.
How many cards do you have MD that you think are weak and want to cut in the Delver matchups? I can think of the following MD cuts from my current build:
2 Mimic Vat
3 Viridian Emissary
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Acidic Slime (I run 2 MD, so can go down to 1)
So if the SB plan is something like this:
1 Daybreak Ranger (I don't have one main)
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Mental Misstep
2 Autumn's Veil
That could work?
Or would it just be better as 3 Mental Misstep?
Actually veil and misstep have totally different role in SB,veil is mainly for UBx control,is limited against delver,in the other hand misstep is good against delver and super aggro like RDW or even TS.
Hmmm I actually think stonehorn is ok against delver, u can timewalk them, and even timewalk them more with clone to buy some time to find an answer.
Garruk in the other hand may not so good,could be easily killed after 1st activation.
what are your thoughts on Geist of Saint Traft? I've been considering running a singleton and here are the pros and cons that I see:
Pros:
- Hexproof
- Additional legend-rule opponent's Geists (which means your clones can copy better stuff)
- Smash face 4-6 blue Ball Lightning on a midrange deck. Excellent for applying pressure
- Comes back with Sun Titan, so you can definitely use it as a Ball Lightning because you're sure that it'll eventually come back.
Cons:
- It is still just a Ball Lightning, without support from War&Peace or Runechanter's Pike. Most of the times it'll be a one shot only and gone.
- It's not the optimal Pod target, because like Glissa, the Traitor you want the creature to stay on battlefield.
I won first place and a really cool play mat in DKA Game Day at my local store with my Bant Pod Deck
For any of you interested this was my actual build:
As you can see my goal was to have a strong T2 play, being it a birthing pod , blade splicer or any of the 2 swords. It worked out really good as I didn't lose a single game, the deck it's sooo resourcefull, my matches where:
1st Round: Esper Delver Deck, he was using Sorin too. (2-0) Birthing Pod turn 2 on first game and after taking some serious damage and facing a 6 loyal sorin I started the Stonehorn Dignitary lock and took the win with Archon of Justice and spirits from Monk, Afetr siding in the 2 SoFaF for game 2 and Ratchet bombs for his dozens of spirit tokens game 2 was assured.
2nd Round: Monoblack Zombies (2-0)
This was a really Easy match As i got my one maindeck SoFaF, and after Sideboard, the other two came in, ;D a little unfair on my part.
3rd Round: Tezzeret Control (the one from pro tour) (2-0)
This is such a though matchup for us, specially because the build i Faced Played me T1 Graffdigger's Cage and then he started dropping Spellskites as if there were no tomorrow, tezzeret also proved to be a huge problem, but i took the game with lots of little creatures and a Gavony Township ;D
Game 2 is ever worse as he played Cage T1. Torpor orb T2 and at some point i'm Facing 2 orbs and 2 cages :S and Tezzeret. I finally get to draw my Sylvok Replica from the side, clone him and get rid of the orbs and started dropping slimes to get rid of the cages and a wurmcoil engine followed by an image took the game.
4th round: (1-1) We decided to draw as we were at first place and get to top 8.
5th round: UB infect (2-0)
Never thought about this matchup, he got me to 9 poison game 1, but stonehorn lock stopped the 10th poison from comming while he got overruned. Game two wal very similar as i got to 8 poison with 2 blighted agents on the opposite side of the field and again stonehorn (mvp) avoided lethal.
6th round: Spirits Delver (2-0)
He got me to one life game 1 and i got to put down wurmcoil engine, had his next card been an instant or sorcery his delver would have flipped and dealt lethal, his next card Drogskol Captain. Even vapor snag would have killed me.
Game 2: after siding in thurn, SoFaF, daybreak ranger and ratchet bombs this matchup ended up really easy.
7th round (final): Wolf Run Ravager
Playing around slagstorms and whipflares game one i got to draw my only SoFaF and steal game one.
Afetr sideboard i expected lots of artifact hate, but it never came and again SoFaF but beast within on the equipping creature stopped me in the spot. Followed up by inferno titan, thinks looked good for him, but the sunblast angel in my hand had another oppinion. He followed with primeval Titan and i followed with stonehorn dignitary, and the angel with the sword looked totally menacing against him, who was chumpblocking with his nexuses. Next turn i finally get to play the reason y started to like this deck, comming directly from my sb and top deck Venser, the Sojourner he just saw venser and stonehorn and we knew it was over, as he was unable to attack next turn and my unblocable creatures went to town next turn pumped by gavony township.
REally good performers that i wouldnt try bant without:
Stonehorn dignitary (mvp)
Sunblast Angel
Strangleroot Geist
Phantasmal Image
I was thinking of trying the third image and wing splicer but couldn't find room for them, besides i prefer not to cdraw the images too often as they're more like lategame targets.
Questions about 2 cards that dont seem to be in many lists that seem like they SHOULD be included as 1 ofs. Razor hippogriff and Deceiver exarch. Any reason to not play these? Ones a good trick that lets you jump the chain, the other gets back a pod or metamorph and gain some life, plus being a decent body for this meta.
@toby : I like your new list a lot,it give bant a new role ,more aggressive than the former bant build.
However I have 1 question: how was the 1 Stonehorn Dignitary in your new bant ? it seems you play less control, so I am wondering if this is underperforming or even work better with more clone... because I am also trying a aggressive version of bant,and I am considering to move it to SB,to fill a 4cc threat in.
Any thought?
He runs a pretty interesting version of Bant Pod. Though its a little too toolboxy for my taste.
What I find interesting about it is the lack of Blade Splicer's with increased Fiend Hunters and Crusaders MD.
Also the Batterskulls. I've been running 3 in my Bant Pod lately and absolutely love them. Vigilance + Lifelink is ridiculous. I also didnt like that my power capped out at 3 before a Titan dropped (and if that Titan met instant removal I was in trouble against larger decks like Frites). Not to mention Batterskull + Mirran Crusader = Still Ridiculous (who knew?)
He also does not run Elesh, and only a single Sun Titan. I assume to put on more early game pressure with cards like GSZ + Strangleroot.
I also think that Bant Pod relies more on ramp than aggression, thus increasing the value of Viridian Emissary and decreasing the value of Strangleroot Geist.
Phantasmal Image pairs well with Strangleroot Geist because of Undying, but I find it difficult to run more than 1 Strangleroot Geist in this deck. My Bant Pod has no Strangleroot Geist. (3 Viridian Emissary, 3 Phantasmal Image).
I'm just posting the deck as another example and am not really looking for comments unless they're SB suggestions - the deck runs beautifully and has really good MUs vs the decks that Junk didn't.
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"Of course you should fight fire with fire. You should fight everything with fire."
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
redthirst is redthirst, fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse. He was the leader of the Fires of Salvation, the only clan I'm aware of to get modded off the forums so hard they made their own forums.
Degenerate? Sure. Loudmouth? You bet. Law abiding? No ****ing way.
What do you guys think about some of these card choices for Bant Pod? They seem a bit out of the ordinary for pod but I could see them working here.
Doomed Traveler - We have 8 Scars lands available to us that produce white, so casting this guy turn one is pretty realistic. And obviously can be podded into an Image for value.
Stormbound Geist - Ok so it's a little weak against GR Aggro and Zombies, but seems better here than Strangleroot Geist. He's a lot easier to cast early (without screwing up your land drops) and he pods for value.
Mausoleum Guard - I might be going out on a limb here.. but same basic idea as Doomed Traveler. He chump-blocks and pods for value.
I've been thinking of working out a Geist-pod list that uses Spirit tokens and swords. Something like this:
I played in a local GPT for Kuala Lumpur this past weekend playing Bant Pod. Ended up finishing in a Top 4 prize split for 12 Boosters, because only one of the players actually wanted the byes, lol.
This match up didn't seem very scary at all. Both games I played out a Dungeon Geist and copied it a few times to lock down the board. I proceeded to slowly beat him down 2-0. The only thing worth mentioning here was using an Oblivion Ring to remove counters from a Stromkirk Noble, then playing Venser and moving the Oblivion Ring to his Shrine of Burning Rage.
Score: 1-0-0
Round 2: RG Aggro
That day I learned that this matchup can be pretty tough. They play similar to Wolf Run, except they don't have a Primeval Titan for me to copy and sacrifice to get Elesh Norn. The guy also played MB Ancient Grudge and Swords together, so I couldn't just sit a Sylvok Replica out there waiting for the Sword to come down.
We ended up using 45 of our 50 minutes to go 1-1, and agreed to call it a draw.
Score: 1-0-1
Round 3: BW Tokens
This deck was pretty brutal. I saw a whole ton of Lingering Souls with Honor of the Pure, and I lost game 1 by keeping an abysmal hand. It wasn't really intentional, I just hadn't had to mulligan all day so I didn't really evaluate the hand first. Next 2 games though, I podded up to Elesh Norn to completely wipe his board and swing in for the game.
Score: 2-0-1
Round 4: UB Zombies
The guy might've had really bad draws, but the two games were over in about 5 minutes. Both games ended with Elesh Norn wiping his board and scooping.
Score: 3-0-1
Round 5: RG Aggro
I was already guaranteed top 8 at this point and my opponent was 3-1. We agreed to ID, so he was guaranteed top 8. Good thing too, I didn't really want to play against another RG Aggro deck.
Score: 3-0-2
Going into the Top 8 was kind've scary for me. The only competitive event I've been to is one the store holds every second Saturday but it has no cut to Top 8 and can be a pretty relaxed environment.
Round 1 of Top 8: RG Wolf Run
I came up against a guy I knew was really solid. He took Game 1 after I mulliganed to 6 with some pretty bad cards in hand. He gets Huntmaster of the Fells out, flips it a few times and we're done. Game 2 and 3 end with me going HUGE. Game 2 ended while I had something like an Elesh Norn, 2 Sun Titans, 2 Frost Titans and some extra stuff like a Blade Splicer and some mana dorks. Game 3 in a similar fashion but with Wurmcoil Engines instead of Frost Titans.
Needless to say, epic matches and very tense gameplay. We were the last players to finish and everyone was crowded around.
Post tournament analysis:
Not much to say. Deck's sick, not a lot I would change. Maybe some extra artifact hate in the SB by taking out Leonin Relic-Warder and the 2 Autumn's Veil. I also want to slip some Mimic Vats in the SB for when people play Grafdigger's Cage against me. People tend to screw themselves more than me when they play it strangely enough. It'd still be nice to side out all my pods for 2 Mimic Vats.
I'm definitely happy staying with 3 colours, too. I had considered splashing for Huntmaster and Ancient Grudge, but I'm happy I didn't. Dungeon Geist is sick and you guys should definitely give it a go.
Stormbound Geist - Ok so it's a little weak against GR Aggro and Zombies, but seems better here than Strangleroot Geist. He's a lot easier to cast early (without screwing up your land drops) and he pods for value.
I'm confused -- how is Stormbound easier to cast early than Strangleroot? It seems to me that the opposite is true -- you necessarily want to go heavy G in your manabase because having a dork and a 3-drop on turn 2 is so backbreaking against a lot of decks. Lategame, all those dorks turn into the best creatures on the field (via Phantasmal Image), thus negating the archetypical downside to running lots of dorks.
I'm confused -- how is Stormbound easier to cast early than Strangleroot? It seems to me that the opposite is true -- you necessarily want to go heavy G in your manabase because having a dork and a 3-drop on turn 2 is so backbreaking against a lot of decks. Lategame, all those dorks turn into the best creatures on the field (via Phantasmal Image), thus negating the archetypical downside to running lots of dorks.
It's easier to cast, without screwing up your land drops.
If your opening hand has two forests, two seachrome coasts, and a strangleroot, then you will need to screw up your land-drop-order if you want to play that geist.
This is my current bant build
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 Viridain Emissary
1 Strangleroot Geist
3 Phantasmal Image
3 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Wing Splicer
1 Huntmaster of the fells
1 Acidic Slime
1 Archon of Justice
1 Geist Honored Monk
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Mortarpod
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Gavony Township
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Glacier Fortress
2 Hinterland Harbor
6 Forest
2 Island
4 Plains
1 mountain
1 Sylviok Replica
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Thrun ,the Last Troll
1 Acidic Slime
1 Act of Aggression
1 Perilous Myr
1 Tree of Redemption
1 Brindle Boar
1 Beast Within
2 Timely Reinforcement
2 Mental Misstep
I had fnm result in report thread,so I don't repeat that again.
something I want to discuss is SB and a few card selection.
SB: my oldy sideboard still have timely and tree there,I think I will change to trinket mage + lifestaff &spellbomb package.
The singleton Myr will also switch to either corrosive gale,or beast within,or Act of aggression.
Any thought ?
MD thought:
1. Venser is slooooow,I am eager for 2nd Garruk,although venser still can do some sweet job.
2. I love my splash huntmaster,so much value he had earned for me
3. Township is definitely not a win more card,it can hold the board when you didn't draw some fuel.
4. IMO Emissary still more suitable than geist in bant ,expand manabase for some activation(pod,township,and etc) is very crucial .
Updated 11/01/13
-->Standard:
:symwg::symwg::symwg: Aggressive Midrange
:symu::symu::symu: Devotion
-->Modern:
:symwg::symrg::symug: Kiki-Jiki Pod
:0mana::symur::0mana: Affinity
Creatures
2 Acidic Slime
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Blade Splicer
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Fiend Hunter
3 Phantasmal Image
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Razor Hippogriff
1 Skaab Ruinator
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spellskite
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Strangleroot Geist
2 Sun Titan
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Viridian Emissary
1 Vorapede
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Planeswalkers
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Venser, the Sojourner
Spells
4 Birthing Pod
1 Mimic Vat
4 Ponder
Lands
6 Forest
4 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
2 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Moorland Haunt
Sideboard
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Divine Reckoning
1 Gideon Jura
1 Mimic Vat
2 Naturalize
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sylvok Replica
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tree of Redemption
1 Viridian Corrupter
Mimic vat and Venser are incredible in this deck. I usually stonehorn and image and bounce it a couple turns in a row till I sun titan into images of sun titan. I love ponder as I can usually shuffle away any non-birthing pod cards or fix my many.
Your list seems quite slow for me,4 bop is not enough ,not to mention your 2 cc drop is not enough either.
your 1~3 drop should be mana acceleration,mana fix &clone,and defence/fuel to pod ,in order to achieve those, you should keep those number on a stable basis,even you have ponder to help.
Sideboarding is the biggest thing that I think we need in this deck. At least, it's the thing that I think I need the most help for.
As I see it, there are two big decks in the metagame at the moment: Wolf Run and Moorland Haunt. I think that we have a slightly favourable matchup vs Wolf Run, and unfavourable vs Moorland Haunt, largely because they can attack through so many different ways.
What do people think are the cards that we want to have vs Haunt decks? I see the following options:
1. Autumn's Veil vs counters
2. Acidic Slime vs Moorland Haunt
3. (Mimic Vat / Venser + Stonehorn) / Elesh Norn / Wing Spicer / Geist Honored Monk vs flyers / weenie swarms
4. Fiend Hunter / Daybreak Ranger / Dungeon Geists vs flyers
5. PI vs Geist of Saint Traft
Are they they things we should be attacking? Are they what the matchup hinges on?
How have others found the matchup(s) vs Moorland Haunt decks?
The other PW is garruk, and i believe he's the right choice.
Garruk act as removal. You can kill up to x/3 fliers that otherwise would be a problem.
He can give you some blockers/attackers when otherwise you would have none. And when he flips, you have a way to fetch the creature you need from the deck....ANY creature.
In a deck with so many 1-of, each useful in his own way in his own situation, i think a PW that lets you fetch the is a lot better than 1 that can interact with them only when they are actually in play.
And yes,mental misstep is great vs delver,I won a few times by that
You can also consider corrosive gale (decent vs esper spirit build),or try to use Glissa + bomb ( not very good imo unless your land can support B).
I even MD 1 daybreak ranger.
@toby : +1 what you say, I always SB out my Venser, that's one of the reason why I consider Venser too slow in current meta
@soulgix: Yes Garruk Relentless is pretty nice for pod deck,he's so versatile,the only problem is that it's hard to find a slot for him.
Is mental misstep better than Autumn's Veil? Veil seems to do the job of forcing your bomb artifacts through counters AND stopping Vapor Snag. It seems like Corrosive Gale rounds out the options I want to try, but I'm unsure as to which is best.
How many cards do you have MD that you think are weak and want to cut in the Delver matchups? I can think of the following MD cuts from my current build:
2 Mimic Vat
3 Viridian Emissary
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Acidic Slime (I run 2 MD, so can go down to 1)
So if the SB plan is something like this:
1 Daybreak Ranger (I don't have one main)
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Mental Misstep
2 Autumn's Veil
That could work?
Or would it just be better as 3 Mental Misstep?
Actually veil and misstep have totally different role in SB,veil is mainly for UBx control,is limited against delver,in the other hand misstep is good against delver and super aggro like RDW or even TS.
Hmmm I actually think stonehorn is ok against delver, u can timewalk them, and even timewalk them more with clone to buy some time to find an answer.
Garruk in the other hand may not so good,could be easily killed after 1st activation.
Pros:
- Hexproof
- Additional legend-rule opponent's Geists (which means your clones can copy better stuff)
- Smash face 4-6 blue Ball Lightning on a midrange deck. Excellent for applying pressure
- Comes back with Sun Titan, so you can definitely use it as a Ball Lightning because you're sure that it'll eventually come back.
Cons:
- It is still just a Ball Lightning, without support from War&Peace or Runechanter's Pike. Most of the times it'll be a one shot only and gone.
- It's not the optimal Pod target, because like Glissa, the Traitor you want the creature to stay on battlefield.
My old nickname was lockheart87.
For any of you interested this was my actual build:
8x Forest
2x Plains
1x Island
3x Seachrome Coast
4x Razorverge Thicket
2x Gavony township
2x Sunpetal Grove
1x Hinterland Harbor
Creatures
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Strangleroot Geist
2x Viridian Emissary
2x Phantasmal Image
3x Blade Splicer
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Viridian Corrupter
2x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Stonehorn Dignaiary
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Acidic Slime
1x Geist Honored Monk
1x Archon of Justice
1x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Sun Titan
1x Sunblast Angel
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4x Birthing Pod
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of War and Peace
2x Sword of Feast and Famine
2x Venser, the Sojourner
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Sun Titan
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Daybreak Ranger
1x Acidic Slime
1x Ray of Revelation
1x Stonehorn Dignitary
1x Sylvok Replica
As you can see my goal was to have a strong T2 play, being it a birthing pod , blade splicer or any of the 2 swords. It worked out really good as I didn't lose a single game, the deck it's sooo resourcefull, my matches where:
1st Round: Esper Delver Deck, he was using Sorin too. (2-0)
Birthing Pod turn 2 on first game and after taking some serious damage and facing a 6 loyal sorin I started the Stonehorn Dignitary lock and took the win with Archon of Justice and spirits from Monk, Afetr siding in the 2 SoFaF for game 2 and Ratchet bombs for his dozens of spirit tokens game 2 was assured.
2nd Round: Monoblack Zombies (2-0)
This was a really Easy match As i got my one maindeck SoFaF, and after Sideboard, the other two came in, ;D a little unfair on my part.
3rd Round: Tezzeret Control (the one from pro tour) (2-0)
This is such a though matchup for us, specially because the build i Faced Played me T1 Graffdigger's Cage and then he started dropping Spellskites as if there were no tomorrow, tezzeret also proved to be a huge problem, but i took the game with lots of little creatures and a Gavony Township ;D
Game 2 is ever worse as he played Cage T1. Torpor orb T2 and at some point i'm Facing 2 orbs and 2 cages :S and Tezzeret. I finally get to draw my Sylvok Replica from the side, clone him and get rid of the orbs and started dropping slimes to get rid of the cages and a wurmcoil engine followed by an image took the game.
4th round: (1-1) We decided to draw as we were at first place and get to top 8.
5th round: UB infect (2-0)
Never thought about this matchup, he got me to 9 poison game 1, but stonehorn lock stopped the 10th poison from comming while he got overruned. Game two wal very similar as i got to 8 poison with 2 blighted agents on the opposite side of the field and again stonehorn (mvp) avoided lethal.
6th round: Spirits Delver (2-0)
He got me to one life game 1 and i got to put down wurmcoil engine, had his next card been an instant or sorcery his delver would have flipped and dealt lethal, his next card Drogskol Captain. Even vapor snag would have killed me.
Game 2: after siding in thurn, SoFaF, daybreak ranger and ratchet bombs this matchup ended up really easy.
7th round (final): Wolf Run Ravager
Playing around slagstorms and whipflares game one i got to draw my only SoFaF and steal game one.
Afetr sideboard i expected lots of artifact hate, but it never came and again SoFaF but beast within on the equipping creature stopped me in the spot. Followed up by inferno titan, thinks looked good for him, but the sunblast angel in my hand had another oppinion. He followed with primeval Titan and i followed with stonehorn dignitary, and the angel with the sword looked totally menacing against him, who was chumpblocking with his nexuses. Next turn i finally get to play the reason y started to like this deck, comming directly from my sb and top deck Venser, the Sojourner he just saw venser and stonehorn and we knew it was over, as he was unable to attack next turn and my unblocable creatures went to town next turn pumped by gavony township.
REally good performers that i wouldnt try bant without:
Stonehorn dignitary (mvp)
Sunblast Angel
Strangleroot Geist
Phantasmal Image
I was thinking of trying the third image and wing splicer but couldn't find room for them, besides i prefer not to cdraw the images too often as they're more like lategame targets.
Thoughts?
However I have 1 question: how was the 1 Stonehorn Dignitary in your new bant ? it seems you play less control, so I am wondering if this is underperforming or even work better with more clone... because I am also trying a aggressive version of bant,and I am considering to move it to SB,to fill a 4cc threat in.
Any thought?
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=378941
He runs a pretty interesting version of Bant Pod. Though its a little too toolboxy for my taste.
What I find interesting about it is the lack of Blade Splicer's with increased Fiend Hunters and Crusaders MD.
Also the Batterskulls. I've been running 3 in my Bant Pod lately and absolutely love them. Vigilance + Lifelink is ridiculous. I also didnt like that my power capped out at 3 before a Titan dropped (and if that Titan met instant removal I was in trouble against larger decks like Frites). Not to mention Batterskull + Mirran Crusader = Still Ridiculous (who knew?)
He also does not run Elesh, and only a single Sun Titan. I assume to put on more early game pressure with cards like GSZ + Strangleroot.
I also think that Bant Pod relies more on ramp than aggression, thus increasing the value of Viridian Emissary and decreasing the value of Strangleroot Geist.
Phantasmal Image pairs well with Strangleroot Geist because of Undying, but I find it difficult to run more than 1 Strangleroot Geist in this deck. My Bant Pod has no Strangleroot Geist. (3 Viridian Emissary, 3 Phantasmal Image).
I can see wanting to ramp, but I can also seehow awesome blade splicer is,and the Geist is kind of splicers 5-8.
+1 that .
I am testing 3 geist, 3 image and 1 emissary in 2 drop.
So far I am happy with that,geist is really great
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Viridian Emissary
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Blade Splicer
2 Fiend Hunter
3 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Dungeon Geist
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Sun Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Spells: 7
4 Birthing Pod
3 Beast Within
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Gavony Township
1 Island
4 Plains
8 Forest
I'm just posting the deck as another example and am not really looking for comments unless they're SB suggestions - the deck runs beautifully and has really good MUs vs the decks that Junk didn't.
—Jaya Ballard, task mage
Doomed Traveler - We have 8 Scars lands available to us that produce white, so casting this guy turn one is pretty realistic. And obviously can be podded into an Image for value.
Stormbound Geist - Ok so it's a little weak against GR Aggro and Zombies, but seems better here than Strangleroot Geist. He's a lot easier to cast early (without screwing up your land drops) and he pods for value.
Mausoleum Guard - I might be going out on a limb here.. but same basic idea as Doomed Traveler. He chump-blocks and pods for value.
I've been thinking of working out a Geist-pod list that uses Spirit tokens and swords. Something like this:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Doomed Traveler
3 Viridian Emissary
3 Phantasmal Image
3 Stormbound Geist
2 Drogskol Captain
1 Fiend Hunter
2 Mausoleum Guard
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Acidic Slime
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Frost Titan
1 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3 Sword of War and Peace
4 Birthing Pod
Lands (23):
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Moorland Haunt
6 Forest
2 Island
1 Plains
Completely ridiculous? or just needs some developing?
Draft My Cube!
My list:
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
3 Viridian Emissary
3 Phantasmal Image
3 Blade Splicer
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Sylvok Replica
2 Dungeon Geist
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Acidic Slime
1 Vorapede
1 Geist-Honored Monk
1 Frost Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Birthing Pod
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Venser, the Sojourner
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Gavony Township
7 Forest
2 Plains
2 Island
4 Flashfreeze
2 Autumn's Veil
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Spellskite
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Acidic Slime
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Celestial Purge
1 Revoke Existence
1 Stonehorn Dignitary
The rounds went like so:
Round 1: RDW
This match up didn't seem very scary at all. Both games I played out a Dungeon Geist and copied it a few times to lock down the board. I proceeded to slowly beat him down 2-0. The only thing worth mentioning here was using an Oblivion Ring to remove counters from a Stromkirk Noble, then playing Venser and moving the Oblivion Ring to his Shrine of Burning Rage.
Score: 1-0-0
Round 2: RG Aggro
That day I learned that this matchup can be pretty tough. They play similar to Wolf Run, except they don't have a Primeval Titan for me to copy and sacrifice to get Elesh Norn. The guy also played MB Ancient Grudge and Swords together, so I couldn't just sit a Sylvok Replica out there waiting for the Sword to come down.
We ended up using 45 of our 50 minutes to go 1-1, and agreed to call it a draw.
Score: 1-0-1
Round 3: BW Tokens
This deck was pretty brutal. I saw a whole ton of Lingering Souls with Honor of the Pure, and I lost game 1 by keeping an abysmal hand. It wasn't really intentional, I just hadn't had to mulligan all day so I didn't really evaluate the hand first. Next 2 games though, I podded up to Elesh Norn to completely wipe his board and swing in for the game.
Score: 2-0-1
Round 4: UB Zombies
The guy might've had really bad draws, but the two games were over in about 5 minutes. Both games ended with Elesh Norn wiping his board and scooping.
Score: 3-0-1
Round 5: RG Aggro
I was already guaranteed top 8 at this point and my opponent was 3-1. We agreed to ID, so he was guaranteed top 8. Good thing too, I didn't really want to play against another RG Aggro deck.
Score: 3-0-2
Going into the Top 8 was kind've scary for me. The only competitive event I've been to is one the store holds every second Saturday but it has no cut to Top 8 and can be a pretty relaxed environment.
Round 1 of Top 8: RG Wolf Run
I came up against a guy I knew was really solid. He took Game 1 after I mulliganed to 6 with some pretty bad cards in hand. He gets Huntmaster of the Fells out, flips it a few times and we're done. Game 2 and 3 end with me going HUGE. Game 2 ended while I had something like an Elesh Norn, 2 Sun Titans, 2 Frost Titans and some extra stuff like a Blade Splicer and some mana dorks. Game 3 in a similar fashion but with Wurmcoil Engines instead of Frost Titans.
Needless to say, epic matches and very tense gameplay. We were the last players to finish and everyone was crowded around.
Post tournament analysis:
Not much to say. Deck's sick, not a lot I would change. Maybe some extra artifact hate in the SB by taking out Leonin Relic-Warder and the 2 Autumn's Veil. I also want to slip some Mimic Vats in the SB for when people play Grafdigger's Cage against me. People tend to screw themselves more than me when they play it strangely enough. It'd still be nice to side out all my pods for 2 Mimic Vats.
I'm definitely happy staying with 3 colours, too. I had considered splashing for Huntmaster and Ancient Grudge, but I'm happy I didn't. Dungeon Geist is sick and you guys should definitely give it a go.
I'm confused -- how is Stormbound easier to cast early than Strangleroot? It seems to me that the opposite is true -- you necessarily want to go heavy G in your manabase because having a dork and a 3-drop on turn 2 is so backbreaking against a lot of decks. Lategame, all those dorks turn into the best creatures on the field (via Phantasmal Image), thus negating the archetypical downside to running lots of dorks.
It's easier to cast, without screwing up your land drops.
If your opening hand has two forests, two seachrome coasts, and a strangleroot, then you will need to screw up your land-drop-order if you want to play that geist.
Draft My Cube!
And if that hand also had a BOP, it's a fine keeper.