Extended League - Bant
26 Feb 2010 | Jack Ding
After watching the coverage of GP San Diego I decided to take Conley Woods’ Bant deck which made Top 8 for a spin in Week 2 of the Extended League. While my list is not the exact 75 that Conley ran the changes are minor and the basic premise of the deck is the same. The most relevant maindeck change is that I replaced the Aven Mindcensors with Rhox War Monk. While Conley had Rhox War Monk in the sideboard I decided that it would be much more relevant due to the unusually high numbers of Mono Red in the Sydney Metagame (more on this later). Similarly there was hardly any combo which made me drop the Aven Mindcensors from the 75 completely and used the extra sideboard slots to shore up the Mono Red matchup even further. This is the list I ended up playing:
Lands: (22)
2 [DIS] Breeding Pool2 [ZEN] Island (1)
1 [ZEN] Arid Mesa
1 [RAV] Temple Garden
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
2 [EVE] Flooded Grove
2 [FNM] Treetop Village
3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
1 [ZEN] Plains (1)
2 [DIS] Hallowed Fountain
2 [ZEN] Forest (2)
Creatures: (17)
4 [CNF] Noble Hierarch4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
3 [MOR] Vendilion Clique
4 [ALA] Rhox War Monk
1 [WWK] Stoneforge Mystic
1 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
Spells: (21)
2 [BOK] Umezawa’s Jitte3 [ALA] Bant Charm
2 [LRW] Cryptic Command
1 [DIS] Spell Snare
4 [SH] Mana Leak
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 [CNF] Path to Exile
2 [FD] Engineered Explosives
Sideboard: (15)
3 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
2 [BOK] Threads of Disloyalty
4 [CHK] Samurai of the Pale Curtain
4 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
2 [M10] Pithing Needle
Round 1 v Javed (Mono Red)
After seeing my first round pairing I was pretty glad with my choice to run Rhox War Monk in the maindeck instead of the sideboard. I kept a very strong hand of 2 Noble Hierach 2 Rhox War Monk and three lands. This game was rather academic as my opponent had kept a one land hand and could only cast Goblin Guide. By the time he drew his 2nd land he sacrificed it to Shrapnel Blast to kill my first Rhox War Monk but the 2nd easily got the job done.
Sideboard: +3 Kitchen Finks -3 Vendillion Clique +4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain -4 Mana Leak
Game 2 was a much closer match with both of us trading threats until I resolved the Jace. I chose to fateseal my opponent immediately although some of the people seemed to disagree with that choice as he had a fetchland on the table. At this point I was on 6 life with no relevant cards in hand so it would probably have been better to try and replace the useless fetches in my hand even if I could not afford the life to shuffle them away. My opponent used the last card to Lightning Bolt me down to 3 and cracked his fetchland. Thankfully he only drew a Goblin Guide which I chump blocked with a Noble Hierach. My draw step yielded a Bant Charm which countered the Lightning Bolt my opponent drew. At this point my Tarmogoyf needed one more turn to finish the job but my opponent had a single draw step unhindered by Jace (due to a fetchland activation) to draw the burn spell Honolulu style. Instead he drew a Spark Elemental which could not get past my Samurai of the Pale Curtain on defense duty.
Round 2 v Patty (Mono Red)
My first thought was what is this deck doing in the 1-0 bracket? Let me make something clear. If you are going to play a deck with zero interaction (effectively), at least play something which is unfair when undisrupted (Hypergenesis comes to mind as well as Dark Depths). If your god draw starts with ‘Lava Spike. Go’ how do you expect to beat anyone who has remotely prepared for the matchup at all? Some of you may cite examples supporting Mono Red such as ‘Finkel played it at Worlds’ or ‘Saito played it last season’ etc but those were most likely metagame choices. If your default deck is Mono Red then my suggestion is to find a different deck which is at least flexible enough to adapt or less likely to get destroyed by easily accessible sideboard cards. Please.
With all that out of the way I will say that my opponent played very well this round. Game 1 I kept a double Rhox War Monk hand which was unfortunately slowed down when my opponent aimed a Magma Jet at my Noble Hierach. He also had double Shrapnel Blast for both my Rhox War Monks but this left him rather low on cards and Tarmogoyf backed up by Jacelock finished the game.
Sideboard: 3 Kitchen Finks -3 Vendillion Clique +4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain -2 Engineered Explosives -2 Mana Leak
My sideboard for this match was slightly different as I was experimenting a little. The correct plan is probably to board out Mana Leaks on the draw and Engineered Explosives on the play although the difference is minor. Game 2 I kept a decent hand of Noble Hierach Rhox War Monk Mana Leak Path to Exile and three lands. This all ended up being moot as I proceeded to draw only land for the next six turns while my Rhox War Monk got hit by Shrapnel Blast. I had three fetchlands on the table at the end of this game which I had been willing to crack. Thinning your deck at the cost of one life is a rather poor deal in this matchup in most circumstances and I kept telling myself that I could not possibly draw another land anyway after about five turns. Who was I kidding?
Game 3 ended up taking a lot of decision making time and with very few turns. The game basically revolved around me keeping mana open to protect my 4/5 Tarmogoyf from Shrapnel Blast while threatening to equip Umezawa’s Jitte if he tapped out. Eventually his life total dropped low enough to force his hand. His end of turn Shrapnel Blast met Mana Leak and he was forced to tap out on his turn to drop some blockers. Umezawa’s Jitte cleaned up the game.
Round 3 v Juzza (Thopter Foundry)
Game 1 started with a Noble Hierach into Rhox War Monk which resolved. A 2nd Hierach threatened to grow the Rhox War Monk which was promptly turned into a Forest. An Engineered Explosives cleared out both Noble Hierachs as I was hoping for which let me resolve a mainphase Vendillion Clique. The Vendillion Clique saw Spell Snare Thirst for Knowledge and Sword of the Meek with the draw spell going to the bottom. With the help of a Cryptic Command and a Mana Leak the Vendillion Clique and a Treetop Village went the distance despite the valiant effort of a Trinket Mage suited up with a Sword of the Meek attempting to stand in the way.
Sideboard: +4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain +2 Pithing Needle -1 Kitchen Finks -4 Tarmogoyf -1 Rhox War Monk
Game 2 was an exhausting affair which went to time. I had a Pithing Needle on Thopter Foundry as well as a Samurai of the Pale Curtain in play. My opponent had a Pithing Needle on my Jace. The first Engineered Explosives from my opponent blew up his Trinket Mage my Vendillion Clique and a Rhox War Monk. The second Engineered Explosives blew up Thopter Foundry Sword of the Meek and Samurai of the Pale Curtain. At this point the board position was my newly resolved Stoneforge Mystic equipped with Umezawa’s Jitte against his thopter token. The Stoneforge Mystic managed to connect once and bring my opponent down to 1 life before it turned into an Island. At this point both of us were in topdeck mode. When time was called the board had not progressed any further except that my opponent had just topdecked a Tezzeret and bumped it up to 5 loyalty with three artifacts in play. This was not really a threat since I was on a comfortable 20 life but it did mean I had to find a solution eventually or I would get run over by a hoard of 5/5 Chrome Mox which could not tap for mana. I drew a Rhox War Monk and suited it up with an Umezawa’s Jitte. This forced my opponent to use Tezzeret to search for Vedalken Shackles which ended any threat of dying to Tezzeret’s ultimate. Furthermore the Rhox War Monk could not effectively attack as this would put counters on my Umezawa’s Jitte so we drew the game.
Round 4 v Hong Yang (DDT)
Getting paired against the top deck in Extended is pretty fitting for the finals. Game 1 I kept a solid hand of Noble Hierach 2 Mana Leak Jace Bant Charm and two lands. Unfortunately a first turn Thoughtseize from my opponent took the Noble Hierach and made the hand less appealing. Instead of drawing my 3rd land I drew a pair of Tarmogoyfs which unfortunately are not very good in this matchup. My opponent used this opportunity to resolve a Dark Confidant and transmute for Thopter Foundry. While I Bant Charmed the Thopter Foundry the first time he had an Academy Ruins which meant I would need to find a more permanent solution. My deck decided to be uncooperative and served up a 2nd Jace and a Cryptic Command instead of the 4th land so I scooped instead of waiting for the board to become clogged up with thopter tokens.
Sideboard: +4 Samurai of the Pale Curtain +2 Pithing Needle -1 Kitchen Finks -4 Rhox War Monk -1 Mana Leak
I started game 2 with an aggressive draw of double Tarmogoyf and double Noble Hierach. However I only had two land and his turn 3 play of Deathmark on my Tarmogoyf and Repeal on my Noble Hierach set me back substantially. I could either choose to play a Noble Hierach or a Tarmogoyf the next turn but not both. I chose to play the 4/5 Tarmogoyf. The Tarmogoyf picked up an Umezawa’s Jitte a few turns later and my opponent chump blocked with Dark Confidant. This gave him enough time to dig into a Thoughtseize followed up a Marit Lage token. Thanks to Umezawa’s Jitte I could survive one hit from the token and he was at a mere 8 life facing my Tarmogoyf and a Treetop Village. This gave me two turns to either draw an out to Marit Lage or a counter to any of his plays preventing my from attacking for lethal. Unfortunately my deck decided it was about time that I draw my 3rd and 4th land drop. My opponent transmuted Muddle the Mixture for a Smother which prompted the concession.
For discussion.