Are you tired of powerful decks combo-ing off by turn four?
Do you like foiling everyone's plans? Do you enjoy watching people frown? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then Derevi, Bant Hate will provide the bitter, distasteful flavor you so prefer.
Derevi, Bant Hate is a ‘competitive’ EDH deck that can hang at the cEDH table, but it can also warm up a seat at the kitchen table. In any case, it will ruin the game for everyone. Derevi, Bant Hate is the quintessential tempo deck—-slow, steady, and generally unexciting. It won't win on turn 2 or 3, but it will prevent even the most competitive decks from doing so. Bant Hate utilizes hatebears and resource denial in order to buy time to assemble combos. This creates a board state that just isn’t fun for anyone. The “winning” combos include effects that (effectively) permanently tap all of your opponent’s permanents, or mill them out entirely.
(Personally, I prefer to create a soft lock situation for my opponents and then waste everyone’s time by winning with combat damage.)
Games with Derevi, Bant Hate will continue on for far too long, and simultaneously, teach your opponents that Magic, the Gathering isn't fun.
I hope you hate them as much as they will you.
I. THE HATEBEARS:
There are a number of key hatebears in this deck. For those unfamiliar with "hatebears” they are creatures that disrupt opponents’ strategies by limiting their options (e.g., shutting off certain types of abilities or mana taxing). They often have the words “can’t” or “don’t,” or some other bad news for your opponents in the rules text describing their often-global static abilities. Winning with Bant Hate depends on getting your hatebears onto the battlefield in an order in which their abilities best suppress your opponents’ plans.
Some of the hatebears have abilities that will, to some extent, impede your own progress. This is to be expected. You must ensure that your hatebears are asymmetrically affecting your opponents. You can continue setting up your board knowing that your opponents will eventually remove a disruptive hatebear, and you will remain ahead because you anticipated as much and planned accordingly. You can also sacrifice hatebears at your leisure to any sacrifice outlet to receive some benefit, such as upgrading them with Birthing Pod, then you can recur them again later, as needed.
II. HATEBEAR MARCHING ORDER:
Generally speaking, you should aim to utilize Birthing Pod or Prime Speaker Vannifar to set up your hatebears (hereinafter referred to as “podding”). However, if it doesn’t work out, Bant Hate provides plenty of other annoying ways to ruin the game for everyone (more on that later).
Make note than an opening hand with Pod or Vannifar is generally a keeper.
You will notice that many of the crucial hatebears are CMC 4. This is not a coincidence. This will allow you to sacrifice your Commander to either Pod or Vannifar to advance the stage of your hatebears. You can also utilize Green Sun's Zenith and Eladamri's Call, as well as Wargate to fill in gaps as needed.
The order in which the hatebears should be placed is highly situational; however, as a general rule, the following order is an appropriate start:
- Glen Elendra Archmage will control any attempts at removal of the ensuing hatebears;
- Shalai, Voice of Plenty will protect the hatebear army that follows;
- Linvala, Keeper of Silence wrecks activated abilities of opponents’ creatures;
- Hokori, Dust Drinker, cripples your opponents’ mana bases;
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV should follow Hokori or Winter Orb to complete the (soft) lock. Augustin will tax opponents out of an answer and give you asymmetrical mana advantage; and
- Spike Weaver is excellent if you are put on the defensive. It can be played earlier to buy time. It combos well for turbo fog with Deadeye Navigator.
There are also many highly situational CMC 4 disruptions available such as Sower of Temptation, Venser, Shaper Savant, and Clever Impersonator, each of which can cause significant shenanigans.
Your hatebears will be difficult to disrupt if played correctly.
If your hatebears hit the graveyard, don’t worry— this deck is replete with recursion by way of Sun Titan, Reveillark, Karmic Guide, and Eternal Witness. The hate will certainly persist.
III. LESSER HATEBEARS:
There are many CMC 2-3 hatebears that alone can shut down certain types of strategies. Their importance should not be overlooked. When playing against susceptible decks, these hateful creatures should be tutored for or played from the hand as soon as practical:
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Drannith Magistrate will prevent your opponents from casting their commanders, which is of course ideal. It also screws Urza, High Lord Artificer, Muldrotha, the Gravetide, and like decks that hope to cast spells from zones other than the hand.
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Kataki, War's Wage and Collector Ouphe will shut down artifact decks entirely (e.g., Breya, Etherium Shaper and Ramos, The Dragon Engine). They will also cripple mana rocks, which is helpful amid Winter Orb type effects.
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Gilded Drake will shut down any commander-driven engine (e.g., cEDH decks) by stealing the Commander. This card is very powerful.
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Gaddock Teeg will protect us from most board wipes and has plenty of other utility.
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Aven Mindcensor is a house; despite your opponents' inevitable gripes, Mincenser is just as well-suited to stifle a fetch land as it is to hose a tutor. Play it with flash at the first opportunity you have to screw someone with it. Be petty. From then
on out Mindcenser will stop your opponents from finding an answer.
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Voidmage Prodigy is excellent control on its own but even better as a vehicle to sacrifice your Commander for ultimate value—-he (she?) is a bird wizard after all.
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Last but definitely not least, Grand Abolisher prevents opponents from interacting with your turn. Always play this. Always.
Sacrifice Birds of Paradise as a starting point to to pod into your lesser hatebears. These bears can also be recurred with ease. Sun Titan and Reivellark will see to it.
IV. GREATER HATEBEARS:
The CMC 5+ hatebears, such as Bane of Progress, Willbreaker, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, are highly situational and require considerable forethought before playing via Birthing Pod or Prime Speaker Vannifar. This is in part because you will have to sacrifice something desirable in order to trade into any of them. That said, these cards will certainly help you to close out the game by crippling your opponents, causing massive shenanigans, and maybe/hopefully facilitating a scoop.
Because you are playing aggro to some extent, these cards will help you dish out damage to some extent, but they are mostly included for disruption. After all, we aren’t trying to win the game with Bant Hate—we just don't want our opponents to win
(some players think that having fun is winning—-we want to prevent winning in any form.)
As previously mentioned, podding for any of the greater hatebears will require a sacrifice. Some creatures make better fodder than others. I recommend sacrificing Reveillark (to bring back Karmic Guide). Bane of Progress is another viable target after he (she?) has blown up the board. Another viable option is producing infinite mana By bouncing your Commander with Deadeye Navigator and any tapping/untapping any three-mana producer, using it to cast Wargate to play whatever you want, then bouncing Eternal Witness with DeadEye to recur Wargate, rinse, and repeat.
There will be options to get your big hatebears out. Time is in your side. In the interim, focus on slowing the game to an unenjoyable pace so you can control every move.
V. GRAVEYARD SHENANIGANS:
Reveillark and Karmic Guide are a well established pair. Individually, they provide for terrific recursion. In conjunction, they are part of beastly recursion engine. I would be remiss not to mention their combo with Ashnod's Altar and Altar of the Brood for mill-to-win. Pairing the two creatures with Ashnod's Altar alone produces mana and recurs all creatures from the graveyard. Add Eternal Witness into the mix and recur your entire graveyard (to hand). Add Venser, Shaper Savant instead, and bounce your opponents' entire boards, or repeatedly bounce and play Gilded Drake to steal their game. Bounce Reveillark or Karmic Guide with Deadeye Navigator and bring back an army of hatebears your opponents worked so hard to be rid of. Sun Titan is another, but more limited, culprit for graveyard shenanigans. However, he is best suited to keep your lesser hatebears and Winter Orb on the battlefield.
This deck plays well with the graveyard, but it is not required in order to ruin everyone’s game. As such, Bant Hate is somewhat tolerant of graveyard hate. Nevertheless, in many circumstances you will find that often your creatures are better kept in the graveyard.
VI. COUNTER MAGIC:
This deck runs limited counterspells. Do not cast them offensively. Force of Will and Mana Drain are powerful and they will protect your board until you cant get Glen Elendra Archmage or Voidmage Prodigy set up. Cast them sparingly. Force of Will is best used as a back pocket, still in the hand even at the end of the game. Mana Drain is particularly funny after you opponents have spent many turns untapping one land a turn due to Winter Orb in order to play some wrath effect or artifact removal—-Mana Drain is devastating in stax and breaks parity.
VII. CARD DRAW:
You will need card draw as early as possible or you will run out of gas. This deck can still win whilst top-decking, but it is not a good look. Ideally, begin the game with Bident of Thassa, Reconnaissance Mission, Coastal Piracy, or Edric, Spymaster of Trest in hand, that way, when you start swinging you can replenish your hand accordingly. This strategy pairs nicely with the untap triggers generated by your Commander’s triggered ability, which you will use to untap mana sources to play more cards.
Alternatively, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sylvan Library, and Sensei's Divining Top also produce cards.
VIII. TIMEWALK TO INFINITE MANA OR INFINITE MILL:
Time Walk is banned in EDH; however, Derevi soulbound to Deadeye Navigator with Gilded Lotus, or Lotus Vale in play equates to tapped-out opponents and effective Time Walk. Faeburrow Elder and Bloom Tender Can have a similar effect with Derevi and Naban, Dean of Iteration or Panharmonicon. Incidentally, you are left with infinite colored mana. Add Altar of the Brood into the mix and your opponents libraries evaporate. In a pinch, Ashnod's Altar will work with one of the three mana, producing permanents previously discussed to trash your opponents' libraries.
IX. LOCK THEM DOWN:
Yes, play Winter Orb. It doesn't have to be symmetrical if you are clever enough to abuse Derevi's second ability--but why would you? You're in it to play the long game after all, aren't you?
Hokori, Dust Drinker will also work, and is easily recurrable. With the assistance of your commander’s tap ability, your opponenents won’t have much untapping to do.
X. WIN AT YOUR OWN GAME:
If you lock down lands, you will also be feeling the heat. Fortunately, your deck is designed to run on fumes. Also, it can produce an abnormal amount of mana with each untap. This is especially important if you get stuck behind your own Winter Orb. While Sword of Feast and Famine will essentially make the landlock one-sided, your untap triggers can do the same.
While Gaea's Cradle is an auto-include in nearly all green decks, it is particularly potent in this deck. Derevi’s untap ability plays particularly well with multiple-mana producers such as Gaea's Cradle, Bloom Tender, Faeburrow Elder, Lotus Vale, and Gilded Lotus. Many of these producers can also net us infinite mana under the correct circumstances.
Bounce lands also shine in this deck. Simic Growth Chamber, Azorius Chancery, and Selesnya Sanctuary will also get you over a hump.
I hope you enjoyed my write-up. Now, go ruin someone's game. Please upvote and leave feedback.
Thanks!
-0rc
Special thanks to theforests56’s Derevi, Empyrial Tactician Deck.
