WOLF RUN BANT with ZEGANA
This is a deck I'm working on for some time. Now I've managed to have a decent version. We all know Wolf Run Bant. DeTora went undefeated in the day 1 of the Pro Tour Gatecrash, then get eliminated. The deck had some success after that, then almost disappered. The currently hot version of Bant is with Prime Speaker Zegana so I thought.... why not mix them?I'm going to post my list, the core of the deck, the other options, the matchups and I'll try to do a sideboarding guide. Let's have fun!
The decklist:
[deck]
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Thragtusk
3x Restoration Angel
2x Angel of Serenity
2x Prime Speaker Zegana
4x Azorius Charm
4x Farseek
3x Sphinx's Revelation
3x Supreme Verdict
n2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
2x Detention Sphere
2x Dissipate
4x Breeding Pool
3x Glacial Fortress
4x Hinterland Harbor
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden
2x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Alchemist's Refuge
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Steam Vents
Sideboard
2x Rest in Peace
2x Dispel
2x Jace, Memory Adept
2x Negate
3x Rhox Faithmender
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Witchbane Orb
1x Detention Sphere
[/deck]
Creatures:
Loxodon Smither: great body, cannot be countered and answer to Liliana/Rakdos Return. He's huge against aggro, early beater and blocker... What's not to love of him?
Thragtusk and Restoration Angel: Always the same trick, always super efficient. Thrag helps us stabilize and his son remain after a verdict/spot removal. The Resto Angel can come out of nowhere, has a decent body and makes us gain even more life and a token.
[card]Prime Speaker
Zegana[/card]: and 6 mana we have a potential great body AND great card advantage. Huge synergy with Resto Angel and....
Angel of Serenity: we can get back Thragtusk, Zegana or exile opponents creatures. Plus, it's a flying 5/6. One of the best card in the format.
Spells:
Azorius Charm: auto 4x. Draw a card, lifelink to a creature or "your opponent skip a real draw". It's just insane and gain us basically a turn.
Farseek: another auto 4x. Mana acceleration. Get your red source with this of fix your mana. Another top notch card.
[card]Sphinx's Revelation[/card]: it should be a 4x, but thanks to Garruk and Zegana a 3x is enough. Who don't know this card? Lifegain AND card advantage. If you draw another one, it's hard to lose the game.
Supreme Verdict: another 3x. Uncounterable wrath? Yes please. Turn 3
Verdict, T4 Thragtusk and T5 Resto Angel is a lovely thing to do.
Detention Sphere: Chose an annoying non creature permanent and exile it. It's really useful against enchantments and plainswalker that are dangerous. I suggest a 2x.
Dissipate: An all-star counter. It exile the spell, so goodbye flashback. Another 2x, its UU cost make it hard to launch at the beginning.
Planewalkers:
Garruk, Primal Hunter: I love this guy. It's huge against control, makes a lot of tokens and has huge synergy in this deck. Imagine this: pump with Wolf Run a previous made token for X, then draw X+3, then attack with the token. Of course things get better with Angel of Serenity or Thragtusk.
Lands:
Kessig Wolf Run: this deck is called Wolf Run Bant, right? This card makes every creature a serious thread to deal with. Run 2x.
[card:
1dyh8vhh]Alchemist's Refuge[/card]: another card that has a lot of synergy with the deck. Sudden Supreme Verdict, sudden Thragtusk, sudden everything. I love it.
Sideboard:
Rest in Peace: humanimator and Junk are staples now. This is the answer.
Dispel and Negate: bring them in against control. More counters are always useful against them.
Supreme Verdict: the 4th is against aggro. No more things to add.
Detention Sphere: esper plainswalker. They'll love it. Also, decks with a lot of enchantment.
Witchbane Orb: no more Bonfire, Rakdos Return, Liliana, Jace, Nephalia Drownyard.... This card is able to demolish opponent's strategy by itself. If exiled, take the 2nd.
Jace, Memory Adept: someone said control? Yes, more hate for them. With
hime we have another win condition and if they empty our hand, if we have landed him or Garruk, we can refill fast.
Rhox Faithmander: against aggro. Roadblock + huge life gain with Thragtusk, so we put ourself too ahead for them.
Other options:
Think Twice: decent card, but a filler for turn 2. I've taken them out for Garruk.
Sigarda, Host of Herons: sideboard card. It's almost impossible to remove. Huge against control after a Supreme Verdict. And has also a great body.
Centaur Healer: great against aggro and good synergy with Resto Angel. In this deck I prefer the Smither.
[card]Aurelia's Fury[/card]: is some games it's huge, but to me is too situational.
Augur of Bolas: decent blocker against aggro and great ability. The problem is that with 20 spells. often we'll put all of the 3
cards at the bottom of our library.
Matchups:
vs Aggro: Good game 1, better game 2. This deck should have an easy time against aggro, apart for the "god hands". Game 2 we have Faithmander and the 4th Verdict.
vs Control: poor to even game 1, very good game 2. Game 1 we must be lucky. We're not very well positioned against control. Game 2 with Jace and the counter package should be much easier.
vs Midrange: even game 1, better game 2. First game it's 50-50, with our draws we should be well positioned. Game 2 with Witchbane Orb and counter it's much better for us.
vs Reanimator: humanimator is almost auto-lose game 1 and pray game 2. With Junk the situation is slighly better, but always difficult.
Little Sideboarding Guide:
Against Aggro:
-2 Angel of Serenity
-2 Prime Speaker Zegana
+3 Rhox Faithmander
+1 Supreme Verdict
Against Esper:
-3 Supreme Verdict
-4 Azorius Charm
-1 Loxodon Smither
+2 Witchbane Orb
n+2 Negate
+2 Dispel
+2 Jace, Memory Adept
Against Jund Midrange:
-4 Azorius Charm
+2 Witchbane Orb
+2 Negate
That's it for now. As soon I'll have more matches against other archtypes I'll update this premier.
As always, criticism and suggestions are appreciated!
