Sideboard


Bant version of GW Valuetown, splashing for Retreat to Coralhelm and Kessig Wolf Run. The deck runs slow and grindy, with many interactions and synergies to simply out value your opponent's list on each turn.

It's worth nothing that the deck does not rely heavily on the Knight of the Reliquary + Retreat to Coralhelm win condition, it is mostly thrown in as a secondary out when possible. Most games will be grindy and won through fair Magic, with this combo route being an option when required to try and race other unfair decks.

You will find it can be very difficult to stick the combo pieces for two full turns to allow going off. Many decks in the format are packing Enchantment hate for Blood Moon currently, so watch out for tech out of the sideboard, and do not go too all in on the combo line-of-play.

Suggestion and comments are all appreciated below! +1 Upvote if you liked the deck!

Main Synergies

Card Choices

Below, we'll go through the card choices for the deck, and explanations of why they did/did not make the cut.

[Under Construction]

Mana Dorks

  • Birds of Paradise (4)

    Birds of Paradise are an important mana fixer in the deck. Producing the off-colors required for things like Kessig Wolf Run and Retreat to Coralhelm, birds will often allow us to avoid taking early game shockland damage where we don't need to.

  • Noble Hierarch (2-4)

    Similar to Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch assists mana fixing for the deck's main colors . While Hierarch doesn't hit like Birds, it provides Exalted triggers which can be very important in grinding damage early game.

Land Engine

  • Courser of Kruphix (4)

    Courser of Kruphix is the core value engine of the deck, and what a good portion of the deck is built around. Providing pseudo-topdeck control, gaining life, and providing a big body to block, or fearlessly attack with early game Exalted triggers.

    This card is one of the main reasons to play the deck in my opinion, and is why I have chosen to go a land-interaction heavy route. A single Courser of Kruphix almost negates fetch+shock detriment, and >1 Coursers actually allow you to gain life off the fetch+shock interaction.

    Other interesting interactions also present themselves through Courser of Kruphix, such as utilizing Ghost Quarter on your own lands for incremental lifegain against aggro decks. It's the small things like this that make this deck so interesting and enjoyable to play.

  • Ramunap Excavator (1-3)

    This card allows some of the more broken interactions in the deck to run. Ramunap Excavator is fantastic in a lands-matter archetype, as all of your high-value lands which require sacrificing themselves can be recurred each turn as long as your Ramunap Excavator stays on the battlefield.

    Ghost Quarter and fetch lands are two of the best targets for utilizing land recursion out of the graveyard, with Horizon Canopy also providing a strong draw engine in the late game. If you are able to play Azusa, Lost but Seeking while you have a Ramunap Excavator on the field, these interactions become that much stronger, as you are now sacrificing Ghost Quarter 3 times per turn, heavily punishing greedy 3+ color decks.

  • Azusa, Lost but Seeking (1-2)

    Azusa is a niche card in the deck, but an absolute powerhouse when she goes online. Allowing many of our strong land interactions to be multiplies, Azusa, Lost but Seeking is worth including in some quantity. In my build here, I've chosen to run 4x maindeck Chord of Calling which in turn makes finding low-quantity cards very simple as the match goes on.

    As mentioned above, Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Ramunap Excavator allow us to exploit things like multiple recurred Ghost Quarter per turn, as well as setting up early mana fixing via recurred fetch lands. While all of this value is being generated, you can also find lifegain from these interactions if 1 or more Courser of Kruphix are out on the battlefield.

    In a list not playing Chord of Calling I'm not certain Azusa remains as prominent, so it may still be considered as it does meet the criteria of Collected Company.

  • Knight of the Reliquary (4)

    Knight wears multiple hats in the deck, playing both as a part of the land engine, as well as a win-condition in partnership with Retreat to Coralhelm. This combo is often the focal point of Bant Company decks, though only resides as an alternate win-condition in this build.

    The combo is fairly straightforward, though is not infinite and thus requires you to display the entirety of the combo. With a Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm out on the field together, you may tap Knight to sacrifice a /, and search for a land to put onto the battlefield. When the land enters, Landfall is triggered on Retreat to Coralhelm, allowing Knight to untap and repeat this process. You then repeat these steps until the graveyard has enough lands to allow for a lethal attack with your Knight. If blockers will stand in the way of this attack, Kessig Wolf Run provides trample and +X/+0 to get over them.

    Aside from the combo, Knight of the Reliquary plays into the above land engine very nicely, as it allows us to tutor for any utility lands in our deck that we need. The deck plays 9 /, thus allowing us to sacrifice up to 9 lands throughout the game. Common utility tutor targets will be Ghost Quarter, Kessig Wolf Run, and even things like Horizon Canopy if you run out of steam and need a draw engine.

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 6 years
Splash colors U
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Modern legal.

Rarity (main - side)

0 - 1 Mythic Rares

46 - 3 Rares

9 - 8 Uncommons

1 - 3 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 2.64
Tokens Clue, Elemental */* GW, Manifest 2/2 C
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