Bant Control

Standard Competitive Control GWU (Bant) Lifegain

TSmash

Land (27)

• 4x Breeding Pool
• 1x Forest
• 4x Glacial Fortress
• 4x Hallowed Fountain
• 4x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Island
• 1x Plains
• 4x Sunpetal Grove
• 4x Temple Garden

Instant (13)

• 4x Absorb
• 4x Chemister's Insight
• 4x Growth Spiral
• 1x Settle the Wreckage

Creature (8)

• 4x Frilled Mystic
• 3x Hydroid Krasis
• 1x Lyra Dawnbringer

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Dawn of Hope
• 2x Ixalan's Binding
• 2x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip
• 3x Wilderness Reclamation

Sorcery (2)

• 2x Cleansing Nova

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

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Sideboard

Instant (7)

• 3x Negate
• 1x Settle the Wreckage
• 3x Sinister Sabotage

Creature (2)

• 2x Angel of Grace

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Ixalan's Binding
• 4x Seal Away

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Cleansing Nova

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Nephew is brewing Bant Control with Dovin spice for his first Standard Tournament. He specifically sought out a BW deck with flying creatures, lifegain, counters, and Planeswalkers. I suggested G to take advantage of Hydroid Krasis , Growth Spiral , and Wilderness Reclamation . Deck seems to have promise but isn't all the way there yet. Thoughts and help are most welcome.

Update: Feels like this new list is much better (big thanks to Winden02 for the suggestions). Took out the artifact/Dovin engine and focused more on Simic/White cards.

Deck Breakdown

Draw Cards (15 total): - Hydroid Krasis - Chemister's Insight - Growth Spiral - Teferi, Hero of Dominaria - Dawn of Hope - Search for Azcanta  

Counter Spells (8 total): - Frilled Mystic - Absorb

Board Removal (9 total): - Settle the Wreckage - Cleansing Nova - Teferi, Hero of Dominaria - Ixalan's Binding

Lifegain (9 total): - Hydroid Krasis - Lyra Dawnbringer - Absorb - Dawn of Hope

Win Con Strategy

• Set the control-pace. Play Counter and Draw spells during your opponent's Main, Combat, and End Phases.

• Maintain board control. remove your opponent's key cards with board wipes and jail cards.

• Don't be afraid to chump block. Use your creatures, tokens, and even planeswalkers to take damage. We don't always need Teferi's Ultimate to win the game.

• Learn to bluff. Keep mana open as much as possible. Your opponent will either play more cautiously (to build up their card advantage) or recklessly (to try and close out the game) when faced against a control player. Have all lands in hand? Not in your opponent's mind. Those lands could all be counter spells or Settle the Wreckage .

• Learn when to close out the game. Getting to turns 6+ is where we really shine. Exhaust the opponent of their resources and out pace them for the win. Most opponent's will surrender after realizing they can't come back ahead. We will rarely have to rely on attacking or getting Tereri's Ultimate for the win. For example; dropping Wilderness Reclamation , Teferi, Hero of Dominaria , or even transforming Search for Azcanta   can be enough to make the opponent surrender.

These are my thoughts on the deck. Would love to hear yours or other control strategies. Think my nephew will love this deck (taught him how to play Chess when he was four years-old. Would love to see him top at an event).

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 2 Mythic Rares 34 - 2 Rares 13 - 8 Uncommons 4 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.42
Tokens	Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink