Standard DEKTEK – Bant Midrange

Following through with my convictions and creating another post within a week? SWEET!

A few people have been asking for my decklists since I’ve been on a tournament winning roll these past few weeks, and while I find the chaos of my LGS isn’t the greatest place to sit down and chat about them between rounds, this blog seems much more appropriate. Besides, I hardly want to spread out my 75 when we’re in the middle of a tournament and possibly give someone an “edge” to take away my hard earned crown! :P

So my next few articles are going to play catch up on a few of the decks that I’ve been running with a great degree of success these past weeks at my local FNM’s. In a field riddled with fast agro and only a few control decks, midrange is oft my weapon of choice, and I piloted this Bant deck to first place on October 30^th / 2012. Nothing particularly ingenious about it except a few of the numbers, but it went 3-0-1 in a 16+ person field which resulted in a split for 1^st.

CARL SZALICH’S MIDRANGE BANT DECK

 

SPELLS (17)

2x Cyclonic Rift

3x Azorious Charm

4x Farseek

3x Detention Sphere

3x Supreme Verdict

2x Sphinx’s Revelation

CREATURES (14)

3x Centaur Healer

4x Restoration Angel

4x Thragtusk

1x Armada Wurm

2x Angel of Serenity

PLANESWALKERS (4)

2x Jace, Architect of Though

2x Garruk, Primal Hunter

LANDS (25)

4x Temple Garden

4x Sunpetal Grove

4x Hallowed Fountain

4x Glacial Fortress

4x Hinterland Harbour

1x Moorland Haunt

2x Forest

1x Plains

1x Island

SIDEBOARD (15)

2x Loxodon Smiter

1x Centaur Healer

3x Rest in Peace

1x Detention Sphere

1x Supreme Verdict

2x Acidic Slime

3x Geist of Saint Traft

2x Sigarda, Host of Herons

MATCHUPS / SIDEBOARDING STRATEGIES

There are a few reasons why I like this deck.

1)      It’s not TERRIBLE vs. aggro, as it packs plenty of removal and life gain.

·         5 early tempo spells: 3 Azorious Charm / 2 Cyclonic Rift… both pull double duty

·         3 Detention Spheres to take out Gerralf Messengers and tokens

·         3 Divine Verdict as a catch all

·         4 Thragtusk / 3 Centaur Healers main for me to blink with Restoration Angel

·         2 Sphinx Revelation to draw me cards and gain me loads of life.

Out of the sideboard I use the following strategy:

·         -2 Angel of Serenity / +2 Loxodon Smiter

·         -1 Armada Wurm / +1 Centaur Healer

·         -2 Garruk / +1 DSphere +1 Supreme Verdict

This reduces the casting cost of my deck significantly, and still gives me all the trumps that it takes to beat the aggro match. Almost 50% of your deck is now geared to outlive their initial assault and just drop bigger and better threats than they have.

2)      It’s got legs against other midrange decks. You’ve basically got a transformational sideboard that lets you board into bigger and better threats than your opponent. Game 1 they see the lackluster Centaur Healers (that they’re probably also running) and figure it’s just going to come down to whoever draws the most Thragtusk, or the first Jace. That’s then they get the rabbit punch as I make a few changes:

·         -3 Verdict + 3 Geist of Saint Traft

·         -4 Farseek + 2 Sigarda +2 Acidic Slime

·         -3 Centaur Healer + 2 Loxodon Smiter + 1 DSphere

There is no longer a need to have board wipe (Divine Verdict) because now all your creatures are awesome and you don’t want to end up with a Verdict in hand when your board is full and all they’ve got is a Healer or Tusk. You don’t really want to waste time ramping anymore because you’re not facing an aggressive deck (-4 farseek) so instead of drawing blanks late game, you’ve got more pressure. Your Smiters are blocking their healers all day long and can kill a blocking Restoration angel when they swing. Acidic Slime removes annoying Kessig Wolf Runs or opposing Moorland Haunts and you’ve still got all of your card advantage to boot! You may no longer be dropping T4 Garruks, but instead your Geists and Sigardas are shoring up the match by just being uber threats that kill their planeswalkers with air superiority.

3)      Control decks are tough, but you use a similar strategy as midrange against them… overwhelm them with efficient “must kill” threats before they can stabilize their board. If you land am early Geist or Sigarda, they’re sweating!

·         -3 Supreme Verdict + 3 Geist of Saint Traft

·         -4 Farseek + 2 Sigarda + 2 Acidic Slime

·         -3 Centaur Healer + 2 Loxodon Smiter + 1 DSphere

If you’re playing against a heavy graveyard themed build like U/W Flash you probably want the Rest in Peace so instead of boarding in the 4^th DSphere go with a RiP and take out the Angels of Serenity for 2x more. They really don’t run enough creatures for them to matter that much, though drawing your own dead guys back to hand is quite nice. Blinking Acidic Slimes with Resto Angels targeting their lands is a really hot play as well! And don’t forget, they can’t counter your Smiters, and only their own Divine Verdicts can take out Geist / Sigarda!

WHY AM I TELLING YOU ALL THIS?

Well, for starters, once I win a tournament with a deck I try not to play it again for a while. I enjoy the challenge of trying to win with multiple decks instead of just being “that guy with the crazy deck that he uses every week”. 

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing though! Playing the same deck every week leads to familiarity and results in less play mistakes, so I’m not knocking those who like their pet decks, or those who only have one deck. It’s just how I choose to roll.

I also feel that by playing a variety of different decks, you get a lot more experience in knowing how to combat them! It’s one thing to memorize a list and know what’s in a deck… it’s another to have firsthand experience PLAYING that deck, knowing it in and out, and understanding all of its little tricks.

I also want you as a player to improve, so that when I face you at an FNM, I’m getting more experience playing against (what I consider) tier 1 decks. That way when / if I ever manage to make it out of this accursed city to a big tournament, I’ll know that I’ve played some tough decks at a competitive level.

Helping you get better helps everyone and makes us a stronger community!

WRAP UP!

Since I’ve been going through some hard times and having health issues, I’ve decided that I’m going to try and end these posts with some positive message or quote. I’ve been trying to have a more positive outlook on life, and I realize that regardless of where we are in our lives some positivity or words of wisdom never hurt. I’ve gone through some dark days in my life, and feel that I’ve got a lot of wisdom to share with you about things other than just Magic. You may not always agree with what I have to say, but hopefully these little words will always cause you to continue to think…

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

If you have to change who you are to feel accepted, or are made to feel that your thoughts and ideas are unimportant and would result in ridicule from your friends… maybe it’s time to find some new ones. For a long time I would act out and do stupid things to try and gain the acceptance of my peers, but in the end they were laughing at me, not with me. It was only when I stopped caring what THEY thought of me, and started caring about what I thought of me that everything changed. My confidence was much more attractive than the mask I used to wear, and the friends that I started to attract were genuinely interested in ME, just as I was genuinely interested in them.

With love brothers,

Carl Szalich

Follow me on Twitter @Psilence6K