I really like the idea! I might personally move the Blossoming Calm, Extripate and probably 2 Heliod's Intervention to the sideboard and replace them with 2 more History of Benalia and 3 Collected Company.

Murderous Rider might be a good option as well, and Fracture is decent sideboard option against a lot of noncreature threats.

Good luck and happy brewing!

TheReal_MtGHaystak - Thanks for the suggestions! I had actually been experimenting with Murderous Rider for the last week or two as a replacement for Path to Exile and/or Reciprocate. The extra mana feels tough at times but I did decide to drop the 2x Reciprocate in exchange for 2x Murderous Rider.

I love Collected Company but as you likely noticed, I am a bit of a cheap skate and just have not built up my collection to include that >5tix card yet but you are right it would be a phenomenal fit. Definitely adding that card to my wishlist...right up there with fetch lands, utility lands, and just better lands in general.

Thanks for the advice/suggestions! I look forward to putting trying it out and seeing how it feels.

Some thoughts:

• your land count feels pretty liw considering your quantity of 3-and-4 drop cards. I would have thought you’d need 23 as a minimum, and probably 24 to function well.

• Blackmail feels really out of place here. You’re unlikely to be able to use it to snatch the opponents best cards, and you generally have no reason to be mainboarding discard effects here.

• Heliod's Intervention is a sideboard card, at best (its barely even worth having there, tbh). It has no place mainboard.

• You’re running 3 colours, so i’d suggest Prismatic Ending over Path to Exile. In any case, whichever one you choose, you should be running a playset of the card.

• Kinsbaile Cavalier feels pretty “meh” for 4 mana. I’d say ditch it, and run the full playset of Collected Company.

[user:wallisface] - Thanks for all the suggestions!

I do occasionally find my self shirt on mana with this deck but it is not often. I will try to squeeze in a few more though based on your suggestion. Any tool you would recommend for balancing mana needs? I have found a few online but they always seem to under-predict requirements for consistent needs.

I included [Blackmail] as a cheap disruption as the deck kinda rolls out slow with most the creatures being three mana like you said. Mostly I used that for when it was obvious the opponent was setting something up early. Any recommendations for what to replace it with?

Two recommendations to drop [Heliod’s Intervention]s so I will likely do that. Will likely replace it with some kind of artifact/enchantment removal such as [Break Ties].

After looking at [Prismatic Ending], I am not quite sure I want to drop [Path to Exile] for it as I could only remove up to three CMC. Interesting suggestion though as [Path to Exile] does have drawbacks.

I loooove[kinsbaile Cavalier] as he can turn the tide so easiler with all the doublestrike but with the [Collected Company] maybe I will swap it out with [Silverblade Paladin] to keep the essence but increase the synergy.

I will play with things a bit and update the deck shortly. Thanks again for the advice!

lhetrick13 Yeah i don’t know of any good tools for calculating mana needs sorry. I generally just follow my gut based of playing a lot of modern.

I would suggest swapping Blackmail out for more killspells.

With Prismatic Ending, keep in mind there are very few cards people play costing more than 3 mana in modern. Also keep in mind it can remove more than just creatures.

wallisface - I did not add in an extra land or two yet as you advised but I made some other changes based on your and TheReal_MtGHaystak's suggestions. I want to play test it for a week or so and see how I feel about the lands before I make any more changes.

You made a good point about Prismatic Ending being able to clear any permanent so I added three of those in to see how it feels. Thanks again for the suggestion!

wallisface & TheReal_MtGHaystak - I have played a handful a games with the revised deck and your suggestion to add in Collected Company was stellar. Currently only running three in the deck as that ate my monthly budget pretty quick but I have gotten to play it in about 5-6 games now and almost every time I have flashed in two knights (one of the times put two Knight Exemplar on the field which was a knock out punch). Definately made the deck better so thanks for taking the time to make suggestions. Next on the list is to see how Prismatic Ending feels.

Knights' Charge isn't good. The effect isn't great for 3 mana and you won't be getting to 8 mana very often in modern. I'd recommend you play more one-drop creatures.

I like the idea of the deck and absolutely love Collected Company! However, I do have a few concerns -- that said, I have not played modern since pre Covid (mostly due to Monke) so take some of this with a grain of salt.

Firstly, running CoCo with only 24 hits seems a bit low, especially when you factor in the multi-purpose cards that may feel sloppy coming down such as Murderous Rider and Knight of Autumn. Frank Karsten wrote an article from CoCo standard era about his calculations, and basically it came down to (at 24 critters) roughly a 78% chance of having 2 hits--that number goes up to 87% (28 creatures) and 90% (30 creatures) with semi-diminishing returns. Just something to think about.

This leads into my second thought, creature value! Although I think having some flexibility in main deck creatures is important with CoCo, I would not be running more than 1-2 copies of those types of creatures unless there is an EXTREMELY compelling reason to do so (i.e., local meta game is full of (x) archetype so I am running (x-hate card) to counteract). I can go into more detail on this if you would like, however, that's not for me to decide!

Lastly, just a few card suggestions that might be extremely helpful! Most are budget, some are..... not.

Dauntless Bodyguard--> Great, versatile card. Need something on turn one, sure! Need something to protect an important threat/key card, you got it! Opponent aims a lightning bolt at your Knight Exemplar with a Wrath of God on the stack, so you spin the CoCo wheels so you can "flash" in a way to have indestructible for you indestructibility----unlikely and probably overkill, but you got it! Cheap, flexible, efficient. Probably worth taking a look at.

Corpse Knight--> Seems meh to me but might be a way to close out closer games against control, especially since that would stack on a CoCo hit. It works, but up to personally choice.

Metallic Mimic--> A knight lord that counts as a knight and can stack with several copies, generic

Worthy Knight--> This card is Young Pyromancer for creature strategies, but semi non-bos with CoCo. Again, completely personally preference. Maybb it's a sideboard piece?

Acclaimed Contender--> Feels like you're cheated with CoCo and knights-galor, especially if you up the knight count by a few.

Oh, I forgot to mention! I also would recommend replacing some pieces of your sideboard with creatures that carry a similar effect, this way you can hit them off CoCo and not interfere with deck cohesion (except the tribal component, kinda).

These might include Remorseful Cleric (graveyard hate), Ethersworn Canonist (spell slinger hate), Lavinia, Azorius Renegade (kinda Damping Sphere).

Might be worth thinking about!

Ouroboros_47 - I have a love/hate relationship with Knights' Charge. If you can get a like >3-4 knights out and are in a position to take an offensive, it is a great card and has turned many a game in my favor. You and Squirrelbacon both recommend adding some creatures so I will definitely experiment with dropping the 3xKnights' Charge for some additional creatures and see how that feels. if nothing else, it would definitely increase the speed of the deck and help with some early pressure. Thanks for the suggestion!

Squirrelbacon - Thanks for all the information! I would love to read that article you mentioned. I will Google that and see if I can turn it up.

You are definitely right about Collected Company kinda being a double-edged sword with the utility knights, mostly the ones with Adventures. Reading between the lines, it seems you are recommending that I add additional creatures to the deck to limit dropping a utility knight when unwanted and also increase the probability of Collected Company being effective and flashing in two creatures. You are also recommended that maybe I spread the love a bit more with the creatures by dropping some of the numbers I have to get some variability. That capture your first two major points well?

Ironically, I do have almost all the creature recommendations you specified. I do really like the idea of adding in Acclaimed Contender as that would act similar to Collected Company on a lesser scale. Corpse Knight and Worthy Knight if added together would be a decent combo but not sure I want to remove enough creatures to make that a viable strategy. The only thing I do not like about Dauntless Bodyguard is that you have to get the protected creature out first. Making it so you have to wait to play it. That was actually the reason why I dropped it but if I add in more creatures, he may be brought back in. Metallic Mimic feels like a slightly weaker lord but considering the only 2 CMC knight lord is Inspiring Veteran, which cost red mana, this may be a good substitute. Great suggestions to the main and sideboards!

lhetrick13 glad that at least some of the information was helpful! To put it briefly, yes, that was more or less what I was saying with points 1 & 2. Those adventure knights are fantastic cards, but when building around CoCo those "modal spells" can seem subpar and force you to use them sub optimally. It is still personal preference as there is nothing wrong with these cards! Adding some extra creatures would be a nice way to smooth that out!

There are a few really nice pieces with Dauntless Bodyguard that aren't immediately noticeable if you are not familiar with it--I played a ton of him in standard and casual formats and I love that card! Here's a few things to think about:

1. Aggressive stat line -- Being a 1 mana 2/1 may not be the most impressive stat line now, but worst case scenario playing him naked and just going aggro if your hand permits it is never a "bad" plan.

2. CoCo synergy -- Hitting the bodyguard and a relevant threat in the same hit can change the flow of the game sometimes!

3. Mana value -- Speaking of CoCo synergy, it might look like you're losing mana value off of CoCo if you hit the bodyguard; however, this is sneakily more complicated. Obviously, the dream is to hit two Knight Exemplars, correct (4 CMC spell, 6 CMC return, net +)? Well, that won't happen very often... However, hitting one of them and then having access to a bodyguard is much more likely. Dauntless Bodyguard effectively forces an opponent to then answer the true threat (at minimum) twice. The Guard and Threat are equivalent to on their own, so that's mana parody, but now factor in the first removal spell (Fatal Push, Any Red Removal) which gets fizzled by indestructible trigger and then the next spell they have to use. Now, you're at a minimum of mana parody of (CoCo hit) and then card advantage/tempo gain over your opponent of (roughly) +.... equivalent to the mana from earlier! Obviously, this isn't fool proof but it is worth knowing!

If you wanna get super spicey, you could also add in Ranger-Captain of Eos to tutor for one and shuffle the deck after you decide you don't want the Bodyguard hit on CoCo lol

Sorry I kinda went on a tangent there, it really is your choice!!!! It's a playstyle thing, and if you don't want to try the bodyguard out that's cool -- it's technically cleaner on mana without it!

In other news, here are a few CoCo articles:

Frank Karsten Magic Math: https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/channelmagic-articles/magic-math-orator-of-ojutai-collected-company-and-dragons-of-tarkir/

Reddit Nerds: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/m144n7/how_many_creatures_do_you_need_for_collected/

CoCo Bant Spirits Breakdown: :https://www.wizardtower.com/blog/pioneer/bant-spirits-the-power-of-coco/

Hopefully those can help! Also, if this is a little sloppy I am writing this out while "trying" to pay attention in class... so.... yea..... I can elaborate on stuff later and we can back and forth this list for a while to find something you love!

I'm silly -- everything should say "parity". We aren't Weird Al, I used the wrong word and I can't find an "edit comment" button :/

Squirrelbacon - Nitty gritty details...you are talking my language and why MTG plays to my interests as I love to tinker and optimize but also have my own personal flair.

Thanks for all the extra food for thought on the Collected Company and Dauntless Bodyguard play. I will likely add him and Acclaimed Contender into the mix based on your and Ouroboros_47's suggestions to drop certain cards and increase the number of creatures/increase creature variability so your suggestions are not falling on deaf ears rest assured!

It might take me a week or two to update the deck based on the recent suggestions as I like to make one edit at a time and play with it to see how that feels before I go all in and adopt the change. Once I do some play testing, I will update the deck if things were positive in how the deck felt/performed and definately give credit to those who made the suggestions so keep an out out for a shout out in the upcoming weeks. Until then, stay in school ;)

Question for Viewers - A few individuals recommended that I add additional creatures to the deck and/or increase the variability of the creatures in the deck. I have been playing with those suggestions by dropping 3xKnights' Charge and reducing the number of non-essential knights and adding in a few knights listed on the Maybe Board. While doing so I have come across a revelation - I have a total of only of only 7 black creatures in the deck with 2xMurderous Rider, 3xSmitten Swordmaster, and 2xKnight of the Ebon Legion...is it worth keeping black in the deck for these 7 cards (ignoring the fact that I have edited this deck heavily over the last few weeks and not updated my mana accordingly)? Removing them would allow me to easily add in a number of knights from my Maybe Board and clean up my mana by only have two colors instead of three, but I just wanted to hear anyone's thoughts on that.

I think it's worth dropping them yes. You aren't really utilizing the black portion of your mana very much and it just hurts your mana base. Dropping the black will also let you play a faster game since you won't need as many tap lands. There are some quite good black knights besides the ones you're using but they don't really fit with the kind of deck you've built to this point, also some are kinda awkward to build around to begin with. If you want to see a weird knights deck that uses more black cards here's one I made for fun Haakon Mardu Knights.

Since you're not utilizing black removal or discard, I could see switching to just W/G could potentially add a lot of benefit. It would definitely make lands/colors a lot easier to hit and reduce in the number of shocks you'll need.all in all I think W/G has a lot of creature value

I don't think it's necessary, but I don't think it would hurt you. It would greatly help with the mana base and allow you better access to mana heavy cards (such as Benalish Marshal if you choose to go down that path. Without running fetchlands, three colors can be hard to consistently balance out. You could also play a few utility lands for yourself then such as Mutavault or Gavony Township. Might be worthwhile.

Also, I had another thought whilst prepping for pioneer play this weekend!! If you cut out and go more white based knights, the vast majority of them will also be humans--this makes Thalia's Lieutenant a realistic option that might help to pack some additional punch. I know it's not a knight, but it seems like it might be sweet to at least think about.

Also. If you cut black out then Wilt-Leaf Liege might be a good option to include a couple of. Collected Company can't hit them but a potential double anthem in a pretty good trade off

Ouroboros_47 - That was my thoughts exactly. Not really justified keeping for the few creatures I was running based on my needs. I actually have two modern knight decks built around Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. Both are still in their infancy so are not posted to this site yet but are very fun to play. I took a look at your version on it and got some ideas so thanks for that!

TheReal_MtGHaystak - Thanks for your thoughts. Sounds like we are in agreement!

Squirrelbacon - That was kinda my thought, if I drop , it would allow me to potentially speed things up by having less of the tapped lands and allow me to play some utility lands. I had Vault of the Archangel in mind but nothing is set in stone.

That is a good point about Thalia's Lieutenant and I had not really thought about that as an option for this deck. As I deconstruct/reconstruct it, I will keep that option in mind and see if I can can add that in.

Another utility land that is budget on MTGO is surprisingly Horizon Canopy. According to MTGGoldfish, copies of the card can be found for between 1.5-6 tix, so might be worth keeping an eye on! I was looking at potential cards to add in and this one hadn't come to mind before 0.o

That said, I bought mine in paper before iconic masters and before the other horizon lands were introduced.... so it wasn't budget back then! Since it's cheap now, if you cut the that's a great way to keep draws live in the mid-late game!

Squirrelbacon - That would be a nice addition. I have been thinking about adding a few copies of Knight of the Reliquary as a way to force my utility lands into play. Horizon Canopy would work quite well with that idea as not only would it allow me a draw but pump Knight of the Reliquary to boot! That would also play nicely with Wilt-Leaf Liege if I added that back into the mix as TheReal_MtGHaystak suggested. Thanks for the suggestion!

Squirrelbacon - I came to the conclusion that just in terms of making the deck better, adding in Thalia's Lieutenant along with Worthy Knight was better than Wilt-Leaf Liege and Knight of the Reliquary. I do like Wilt-Leaf Liege but even with only the two copies present, I pulled it once or twice with the Collected Company which was disappointing. Decided to keep all creature costs below 3 CMC based on that experience and Benalish Marshal can pump the human tokens created with Worthy Knight while Thalia's Lieutenant can pump anything on the board when it comes in play and get pumped when anything else is played with a good potential for additional +1/+1 counters due to if at least one Worthy Knight is present.

The whole point of this exercise was to be objective with the deck and see what others would do with it and why so really interesting to see where the deck started vs where it is now. Thanks again for all your thoughts and advice along the way!

Its been a long time since i’ve read this list, and it looks like its come a really long and positive way! Congrats on the improvements. My current thoughts are:

• I’m personally really not sold on either Selesnya Charm or Silverblade Paladin. The first card just feels to janky and “meh”, while the second feels like a very steep mana cost for a relatively average ability - if you can run Mirran Crusader instead, you should be.

• It feels like you want to be hitting 3 mana asap, and reach 4 mana in a timely fashion. You need at least 23 lands imo to reliably achieve this. Using anything lower than this feels like there’ll be too many games where the deck loses to itself.