Bant Flash

[Valdarith]

When Advent of the Wurm was spoiled, I got pretty excited. 4 mana for a 5/5 trample with flash? Seriously?! How can we abuse this card?

This Bant Flash deck I brewed is a take on the draw-go strategy typically seen in UW decks but expanded to the Bant shard. It abuses instant-speed token generation in order to allow us to keep mana open for removal and counterspells. Every non-creature spell in the deck, with the exception of Call of the Conclave, can be cast at instant speed. With 28 of these spells, Snapcaster Mage has MANY potential targets, including cards that populate creature tokens we already control. Four fogs in the maindeck create serious problems for aggro decks but is still relevant in control matchups due to the populate clause. Augur of Bolas is included as a three-of for more aggro hate as well as an almost-always cantrip. Selesnya Charm and Syncopate provide hate for Rites matchups. Rapid
Hybridization is useful in midrange matchups and can also be a nice combat trick for use on our own creatures in blocking situations. Simic Charm and Rootborn Defenses provide protection for our creatures and we can always gain life, bounce, or cantrip with Azorius Charm. Two Rewinds in the maindeck give us the ability to counter spells and still cast another spell at the end of our opponent's turn. Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage and a singleton Gavony Township provide late-game mana sinks that can also be activated at the end of our opponent's turn.

Of course, the big card in the deck is Advent of the Wurm. This card has so much value, and the ability to flash it back with Snapcaster Mage is even more ridiculous. Add the seven populate effects we have mainboard and we can develop a board state that can quickly get out of hand for our opponent. Of course, the deck can still win without Advent. Centaur, Knight, and Spirit tokens are quite powerful once you get a few of them on your board.

[deck]
Creatures (8)
n3 Augur of Bolas
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage

Spells (28)
2 Rapid Hybridization
2 Syncopate
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Azorius Charm
2 Simic Charm
3 Call of the Conclave
4 Druid's Deliverance
1 Rootborn Defenses
3 Midnight Haunting
4 Advent of the Wurm
2 Rewind

Lands (24)
4 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Breeding Pool
3 Sunpetal Grove
3 Hinterland Harbor
3 Glacial Fortress
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Gavony Township

Sideboard (15)
2 Dispel
2 Purify the Grave
2 Righteous Blow
2 Negate
2 Sundering Growth
2 Renounce the Guilds
2 Cyclonic Rift
1 Detention Sphere
[/deck]

The manabase may need work as well as some sideboard optimization. I like having access to Dispel and Negate in the side for control matchups. Purify the Grave is money vs Rites and it along with Selesnya Charm is a huge game. Righteous Blow comes in as one mana removal against aggro. Sundering Growth takes care of artifacts and enchantments and also populates for us. Double hybrid GW also makes it
easy to cast. I like Renounce the Guilds in Bant Hexproof matchups and some midrange and control matchups. Cyclonic Rift is useful against midrange and some aggro matchups. A single Detention Sphere rounds out the sideboard as insurance against planeswalkers.

I have not yet played with this deck as I don't have all the cards, but was interested in hearing some opinions. I like Call of the Conclave against aggro since a 3/3 is generally difficult for them to deal with early on, but I can't help but feel that I should bump Midnight Haunting as a four-of at the expense of one of them.

[Alex]

The Guildmages are by far the worst cards in the deck. I could easily see cutting them both for another Augur/Snapcaster.

[Valdarith]

The Guildmages are by far the worst cards in the deck. I could easily see cutting them both for another Augur/Snapcaster.

Can you elaborate? He's obviously not good in the early game but he's huge in control matchups G1. Populate on a stick is nothing to sneeze at.

[Alex]

The Guildmages are by far the worst cards in the deck. I could easily see cutting them both for another Augur/Snapcaster.

Can you elaborate? He's obviously not good in the early game but he's huge in control matchups G1. Populate on a stick is nothing to sneeze at.

You're basically never going to use him to make a centaur, so there's really no incentive to play him over Trostani. She's harder on the mana but the mana is good enough to where I can't ever see it being a problem.

Also Snapcaster is basically a proliferate for Advent of the Wurm, and they're both
better in aggro matchups g1.

[Valdarith]

The Guildmages are by far the worst cards in the deck. I could easily see cutting them both for another Augur/Snapcaster.

Can you elaborate? He's obviously not good in the early game but he's huge in control matchups G1. Populate on a stick is nothing to sneeze at.

You're basically never going to use him to make a centaur, so there's really no incentive to play him over Trostani. She's harder on the
mana but the mana is good enough to where I can't ever see it being a problem.

Also Snapcaster is basically a proliferate for Advent of the Wurm, and they're both better in aggro matchups g1.

I follow this logic. I would like to try the Guildmage out as a singleton simply for testing purposes, so for now I'll go -1 Guidmage +1 Augur. I'm not sure about running the full set of Snapcasters as I wouldn't want to see two in my starting hand, whereas I'd have no problem keeping a hand with two Augur.

[Valdarith]

Tested a bit last night. Some observations.

1) I really want more removal. Rapid Hybridization and Selesnya Charm just aren't cutting it. I feel like the deck really needs Supreme Verdict. There were times where I could cast Simic Charm or Selesnya Charm on my blocker to kill off creatures but it also opened me up to some two for ones and I really don't like that.

2) The singleton guildmage actually won me a game simply by overwhelming my opponent with tokens, but in that game a Supreme Verdict would have done just the same. I did not get to play any control decks and I imagine the guildmage could be good there. Perhaps sideboard consideration? Of course, Trostani would be better here for the lifegain clause and the bigger ass but GGWW can be hard to pull off.

3) There were a couple of games where I was lacking GG for Advent of the Wurm. Mana base may need reconsideration but it also could have been variance.

4)
Rewind led to a few blowouts. Never had a problem with UU.

5) Syncopate had varying amounts of success. I only had trouble with it when I was mana screwed, but I think it's better than Dissipate since UU on turn three can be iffy in this deck.

6) Rarely had a use for Simic Charm. Might drop it altogether to make room for Verdict.

7) Righteous Blow and Renounce the Guilds from the board were AMAZING. Really lays the smack down on aggro and since I run no multicolored permanents (took Dsphere out of the side) Renounce has no downside for me. I used it to kill Dryad Militants, Rakdos Cacklers, Viashino Firstblades, Boros Reckoners (!), Assemble the Legion...it's just a solid card.

Three Snapcasters is the right number. There were times I had two in my hand and wished I didn't. I'd like to keep that to a minimum.

9) Four Augurs is great. I didn't miss with him all night, and almost every draw gave me a relevant
spell for the board state. Tweaking the deck will make the times the spells aren't relevant nearly nonexistant.

10) I have a lot of learning to do with this deck. It plays much differently than I'm used to and has a lot of creative outs that I need to train my mind to see.

[Valdarith]

[deck]
Creatures (7)
4 Augur of Bolas
3 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (29)
2 Rapid Hybridization
2 Syncopate
3 Call of the Conclave
3 Selesnya Charm
3 Azorius Charm
3 Druid's Deliverance
1 Rootborn Defenses
3 Midnight Haunting
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Advent of the Wurm
2 Rewind

Lands (24)
3 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Breeding Pool
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Hinterland Harbor
3 Glacial Fortress
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Gavony Township

Sideboard (15)
2 Dispel
2 Purify the Grave
2 Righteous Blow
2 Negate
2 Sundering Growth
2 Renounce the Guilds
2 Cyclonic Rift
1 Selesnya Charm
[/deck]

New list. Took out the guildmage. I keep going back and forth on Call of the Conclave. The 3/3 body on turn two is a great play for me against aggro, but then again, is that slot not already filled by Augur of Bolas? I feel like if I take Call out, the only card I have worth populating is Advent, and I don't
like that. Populating spirit tokens doesn't feel good to me, especially when I'm not running Intangible Virtue.

[deschain]

I'm seeing a bunch of spells here, would delvers and/or pikes be advisable?

[Pendulum]

I'm seeing a bunch of spells here, would delvers and/or pikes be advisable?

I played around a bunch with Delver and it's solid, you get these nut hands that are unstoppable, but I ended up going back to Auger for consistency. With or without Delver, though, I am under the impression that the deck simply doesn't need Pike: you win by quantity, not quality (well not quite but you get the idea).

[Alex]

You could probably play one pretty comfortably, though. Midnight Haunting is the least exciting token to populate, that's probably what I'm going to swap for a Pike when I play the deck.

[Pendulum]

This is going to sound super-greedy of me, but I'd be a lot more comfortable with a miser's copy of Pike if the deck ran some kind of card draw.

The other thing I can't get over about Pike is that, what with the current prevalence of Reanimator, you're not exactly likely to see people siding into Tormod's Crypt or other graveyard removal but it does happen, and when it does it can be some good incremental advantage as it is; losing the main benefit of your Pike as well just seems like it would be disadvantageous.

[Valdarith]

It's funny that Pike gets brought up because I am considering adding one or two maindeck. I've also considered going with more cantrips like Think Twice and simply not playing any Call of the Conclave. I've also started to cool on all my maindeck counters. Running into 26+ land control decks and Farseek decks has made Syncopate dead in many matchups and I can't use Rewind until turn four at the earliest. Sure, Rewind can lead to big turns but I feel like it's actually a winmore.

One big thing is being able to protect my Wurm tokens. That's very difficult against decks running a lot of instant speed removal since they can just kill it after I pass priority at the end of their turn. I've found Rapid Hybridization to be an acceptable counter to this as it provides me a good body for a one mana counter.

[LP, of the Fires]

I don't understand not playing restoration angel. The card doesn't need to synergize with your deck to be playable and the fact that it does makes it a no-brainer imo.

[Valdarith]

This is probably true. My original iteration of the deck was much more token-themed. In its evolution it is likely that Resto Angel should replace Midnight Haunting.

Of course, I keep going back and forth on what I want to do with the deck. Other iterations of Bant Flash force 3 Sphinx's Revalation mainboard, 4-6 counters, and just win off of chain Revalations. I don't like that style of play. I was aiming for a more proactive approach to the deck while still keeping true to the draw-go theme of the deck. What about a deck with no counters, some number of Intangible Virtue, and cards to protect our tokens?

[deck]Creatures (6)
3 Augur of Bolas
3 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (31)
2 Unsummon
2 Rapid Hybridization
2 Selesnya Charm
2 Azorius Charm
2 Simic Charm
4 Call of the Conclave
2 Druid's Deliverance
3 Intangible Virtue
3 Think Twice
3 Midnight Haunting
2 Supreme Verdict
4 Advent of the Wurm

Lands (23)
4
Hallowed Fountain
3 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Forest
1 Island
[/deck]

We have Rapid Hybridization to serve as both removal for problem creatures our opponents control as well as an option to use on our own creatures to act as a pseudo-counter to removal. Simic Charm and Druid's Deliverance serve a similar purpose. Four Call of the Conclave are strong creatures throughout the game, especially with Intangible Virtue now in the deck. Otherwise the deck still keeps the draw-go theme with Think Twice, Advent, Midnight Haunting (which is MUCH better now with Virtue in the deck), Unsummon, etc.

[redthirst]

Here's what I've been rolling with Bant Flash-wise:

[deck]Creatures: 11
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel

Spells: 27
3 Syncopate
3 Thought Scour
3 Unsummon
4 Think Twice
3 Azorius Charm
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Renounce the Guilds
2 Dissipate
4 Advent of the Wurm

Land: 22
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Hinterland Harbor
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest[/deck]

Color Weight: [mana]U[/mana] - 28, [mana]w[/mana] - 13, [mana]g[/mana] - 11

Mana Base: [mana]U[/mana] - 15, [mana]w[/mana] - 13, [mana]g[/mana] - 13

Not a whole lot of testing done, but it runs smooth and I like it.

[LP, of the Fires]

@Val: Define what you want your plan to be and run with that. The answer seems to be faeries-esque draw flash. Control tempo, beat down with fliers and redthirsts co-I mean worm tokens. Of note, selesnya charm ALSO blows out ghor-clan rampaging. Playing against agro with sphinx's is kind of dodgy and you're forced to be a lot more careful with your charms.

[Valdarith]

@Val: Define what you want your plan to be and run with that. The answer seems to be faeries-esque draw flash. Control tempo, beat down with fliers and redthirsts co-I mean worm tokens. Of note, selesnya charm ALSO blows out ghor-clan rampaging. Playing against agro with sphinx's is kind of dodgy and you're forced to be a lot more careful with your charms.

This is pretty much where I want to be. The question then becomes "What is the best combo of cards to make this a winning strategy? I think I'm on the right track but maybe no counters is incorrect.

[LP, of the Fires]

I think you want some combination of syncopate and rewind. Without sphinx's revelation if you're choosing to forgo that card, you need a way to say "no" since you aren't always going to able to race or blow people out with combat tricks.

I also like gavony township to compliment midnight haunting for whatever that's worth.

[Pendulum]

I'm not so sure. In the testing I've done I can usually play extremely proactively, winning games off of a few key plays like throwing a wurm out to block (which is killer since even if they're expecting it they still generally have to walk into it). Most of the times I was holding onto a counterspell I wished it was a card that applied pressure instead.
That being said, I'm playing around with Farseek and a miser's copy of Plasm Capture. It doesn't seem like it would be optimal here but having the chance at a double-mana turn is surprisingly good.

[Valdarith]

I think if we are going to play proactively though we will need to be heavy green and white to support turn two Centaurs and Knights. We'd be running blue for Hybridization, Snapcaster, and the charms. Not sure if Think Twice would make the cut or not.

[redthirst]

Latest version:

[deck]Creatures: 11
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel

Spells: 27
4 Syncopate
3 Thought Scour
3 Unsummon
4 Think Twice
3 Azorius Charm
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Dissipate
3 Advent of the Wurm

Land: 22
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Hinterland Harbor
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Forest[/deck]

[Valdarith]

Looks good, red, though I don't know if I like Sphinx's Revelation in a 22-land deck.

I'm going to roll with something a little more unconventional.

[deck]
Creatures (4)
4 Snapcaster Mage

Spells (33)
2 Unsummon
3 Rapid Hybridization
4 Selesnya Charm
4 Call of the Conclave
2 Azorius Charm
2 Simic Charm
2 Druid's Deliverance
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Think Twice
2 Rootborn Defenses
4 Advent of the Wurm

Lands (23)
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Gavony Township
[/deck]

[redthirst]

Looks good, red, though I don't know if I like Sphinx's Revelation in a 22-land deck.

With as much card draw/cycling as the deck has, you don't miss land drops. I didn't have Revelation in the original for the same reason, but when you play a few dozen games and realize that you haven't missed hitting 6 lands by turn 6 in any of them then it goes right in.

[Valdarith]

That's fair. With all your cantrips you ought to see a lot of cards.