tulsatrey

I won Game Day - Dragon's Maze with this deck!

An early Luminarch Ascension is almost as powerful as an early Serra Ascendant. As I said, it is not a deck intended for a casual playgroup. Armageddon =/= hugs.

This deck was meant to wreck the broken mono-blue or mono-black combo decks, and to have good game against the powerful ramp strategies that dominate EDH.

I'll help by explaining some of the logic behind the card choices for this mid-range Bant deck.

Wraths are a staple in mid-range decks. This deck tends to play out a couple good creatures, but can get overwhelmed by rush strategies (Elves, Kithkin, tokens, etc.) if the game goes long. Mid-range decks can recover from a Wrath much better than these decks, especially when playing strong equipment like Warhammer and Sigil. I usually want to find one later in the game, so 2 is a good number.

Bant Charms are great because they either serve as removal, or counter a counterspell. I wanted more of each effect, so I put in 2 Negates and 2 Paths. The extra Negates really help against 5cc and planeswalkers. Speaking of planeswalkers...

O-rings are best at dealing with planeswalkers. If an opponent gets to activate an Elspeth or Ajani against you a couple times, it will be hard to win. O-rings can also take care of other unforeseen problem permanents.

The Bant Panoramas are actually really good in this deck because of Knight of the Reliquary. End of opponent's turn, float a mana from a Plains or Forest. Then, sac that land for a Panorama. Finally, use the floating mana to sac the panorama for another Forest or Plains! You have thinned your deck by two lands and increased the Knight's p/t by two! Don't worry, magicman, you aren't the first to miss that combo -- I've killed many a Thoctar because my opponent didn't expect my Knight to block and then change from a 4/4 to a 6/6 before damage...

Speaking of the Knight, he is the reason I was able to cut my comes-into-play-tapped lands (Treetop Village, Mosswort Bridge) down to one-of's. Since he can tutor for them, I don't have to worry about not being able to cast my accelerators turn 1. The Bridge is awesome to fetch at the end of an opponent's turn if Knight is getting big.

Manamorphoses help smooth out the mana in a deck that wants to run a lot of basic lands as well as some colorless mana-producing lands.

On the land count: a good rule of thumb when playing mana accelerators is to cut one land for every two accelerators. I would run 25 land, but because of the 6 heirarchs and birds, I can safely play 22.

I hope you give this deck a try. It is a lot of fun and has been very consistent for me.

Skarrg is one of my favorite cards ever.

Noble Heirarch > Llanowar Elves here.

If you take out Armadillo Cloak and Griffin Guide for stuff like Knight of the Reliquary and Wilt Leaf Liege this would be standard legal.

I think you still probably need more blue sources.

Idyllic Tutors seem like they could just be replaced with a useful enchantment. More copies of Story Circle, perhaps?

Runed Halo from the board could be good..

I think 7 Ancient Ooze might be too many... :-)

7 painlands, 4 Thoughtseize, and 4 Volcanic Fallout is a lot of self-inflicted damage. I'd say too much.

You have 16 cards in the sideboard.

Look at replacing the Millstones with some more efficient cards. Font of Mythos or Howling Mine, maybe?

Twelve card draw spells is too many in this deck.

Also, Rupture Spire is not constructed playable.

What's with the 16-card sideboard?

Try Goblin Assault in the sideboard against 5cc. Forces them to run out a Plumeveil/Mulldrifter/Wall of Reverence which you can then steal.

I think you'll want Noble Heirarch to ramp to turn two Finks or KotR.

Also, more basic lands for sac'ing and fewer man lands. You can fish them out with KotR anyway.

I have been pleased with a one-of Mosswort Bridge in my KotR deck. Check it out here: http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=16462

I would suggest Broken Ambitions over Cancel.

tulsatrey