Hello everyone,
June 18th/19th was the WMCQ weekend all over the world. For France, it was in Toulouse, the city of Raphael Levy, captain of the French team that won the [Worlds in 2013].
I was really motivated for this tournament, the main reason being that I was excited to get a chance to represent my country at the World Magic Championship with Raphael Levy or Pierre Dagen as our team captain.
■ Preparation:
For this tournament, I tested in Paris with Julien Henry, a young French player who just reached the Top 8 of [Grand Prix Manchester 2016] but lost to Raphael Levy in the finals.
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After checking all Standard GP results around the world during the past weeks, this much was clear: Green-White Tokens is still the best deck and we needed something great against it. In the last two Standard Grand Prix, 7 GW Tokens made top 8 and 2 won.
[Grand Prix Manchester 2016] 1) GW Tokens 2) Bant Company 3) GW Tokens 4) Grixis Control 5) Bant Rites 6) UR Ulamog 7) GW Tokens 8) Bant Company |
[Grabd Prix Costa Rica 2016] 1) GW Tokens 2) Naya Walkers 3) Bant Company 4) GW Tokens 5) Bant Company 6) GW Tokens 7) WB Control 8) GW Tokens |
I said to Julien that Bant Humans is probably a good choice, because against GW you need to be aggressive if you want to be able to deal with their [Nissa, Voice of Zendikar] and [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar].
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While testing for Grand Prix Manchester I never lost to GW Tokens with the deck and when I swapped to GW tokens for the tournament I never managed to win against Bant Humans.
So we chose to take the base of Yuuya Watanabe’s deck and change the mana base (1 [Wastes], 4 [Yavimaya Coast], 4 [Evolving Wilds]) to include three copies of [Eldrazi Displacer].
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[Eldrazi Displacer] works well with [Reflector Mage] to deal with your opponent’s threats but also with [Thalia’s Lieutenant] to make your board bigger. It also helps against cards you can’t deal with really well like [Hangarback Walker] or [Archangel Avacyn]. It’s really great in the late game when you have a lot of lands.
The deck is very proactive and aggressive but also has a lot of card advantage built in with ([Thraben Inspector], [Duskwatch Recruiter], [Tireless Tracker]). It is good to feel you are not “all-in” with your aggressive plan.
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The deck puts up a decent fight against opposing [Languish]s and [Chandra, Flamecaller]. [Collected Company] is obviously a good answer post wrath but with [Thalia’s Lieutenant] you can try to counter them by getting your creatures to 5 toughness survive the wrath instead.
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5 [Plains] 2 [Forest] 1 [Island] 1 [Wastes] 3 [Canopy Vista] 1 [Prairie Stream] 4 [Evolving Wilds] 4 [Fortified Village] 4 [Yavimaya Coast] -Lands (25)- 3 [Thraben Inspector] 4 [Thalia’s Lieutenant] 4 [Duskwatch Recruiter] 4 [Lambholt Pacifist] 4 [Reflector Mage] 4 [Tireless Tracker] 3 [Eldrazi Displacer] -Creatures (26)- |
4 [Dromoka’s Command] 4 [Collected Company] 1 [Ojutai’s Command] -Spells (9)- |
4 [Negate] 3 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar] 3 [Tragic Arrogance] 2 [Den Protector] 1 [Profaner of the Dead] 1 [Reality Smasher] 1 [Declaration in Stone] -Sideboards (15)- |
I am pretty happy with the maindeck, wouldn’t change anything, but some cards in the sideboard could be improved upon.
4 [Negate], 1 [Declaration in Stone], 2 [Den Protector], 2 [Tragic Arrogance] (not sure about the 3rd one) are useful, but the rest of the side probably needs to be reworked.
[Profaner of the dead] is only good against GB rites, so if you expect it you can keep it in since it’s a bad matchup for the deck. [Gryff’s Boon] is also an option.
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[Gideon, Ally of Zendikar] is a good card against control decks but if you want to play [Collected Company] you have to respect the number of creatures. I think two should be enough.
[Reality Smasher] won me the match in the quarterfinals against RG tokens (the only matchup I side it in).
My new Sideboard would be:
New Sideboard
4 [Negate]
3 [Den Protector]
2 [Declaration in Stone]
2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
2 [Tragic Arrogance]
1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer]
1 [Reality Smasher]
4 [Negate]
3 [Den Protector]
2 [Declaration in Stone]
2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
2 [Tragic Arrogance]
1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer]
1 [Reality Smasher]
■ Side-IN / Side-OUT:
● GW Tokens (Play)
OUT
3 [Thraben Inspector]
2 [Dromoka’s Command]
1 [Duskwatch Recruiter]
IN
4 [Negate]
2 [Declaration in Stone]
OUT
3 [Thraben Inspector]
2 [Dromoka’s Command]
1 [Duskwatch Recruiter]
IN
4 [Negate]
2 [Declaration in Stone]
● GW Tokens (Draw)
OUT
3 [Duskwatch Recruiter]
2 [Dromoka’s Command]
1 [Tireless Tracker]
IN
4 [Negate]
2 [Declaration in Stone]
OUT
3 [Duskwatch Recruiter]
2 [Dromoka’s Command]
1 [Tireless Tracker]
IN
4 [Negate]
2 [Declaration in Stone]
● BW Control
OUT
4 [Dromoka’s Command]
3 [Eldrazi Displacer]
2 [Lambholt Pacifist]
1 [Reflector Mage]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
4 [Negate]
3 [Den Protector]
2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer]
1 [Reality Smasher]
OUT
4 [Dromoka’s Command]
3 [Eldrazi Displacer]
2 [Lambholt Pacifist]
1 [Reflector Mage]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
4 [Negate]
3 [Den Protector]
2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer]
1 [Reality Smasher]
● Bant Company
OUT
3 [Thraben Inspector]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
2 [Negate]
2 [Tragic Arrogance]
OUT
3 [Thraben Inspector]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
2 [Negate]
2 [Tragic Arrogance]
● Bant Humans
OUT
3 [Thraben Inspector]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
2 [Negate]
2 [Tragic Arrogance]
OUT
3 [Thraben Inspector]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
2 [Negate]
2 [Tragic Arrogance]
● Mono Blue Prison
OUT
3 [Tireless Tracker]
3 [Eldrazi Displacer]
2 [Reflector Mage]
1 [Collected Company]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
4 [Negate]
3 [Den Protector]
2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer]
OUT
3 [Tireless Tracker]
3 [Eldrazi Displacer]
2 [Reflector Mage]
1 [Collected Company]
1 [Ojutai’s Command]
IN
4 [Negate]
3 [Den Protector]
2 [Gideon, Ally of Zendikar]
1 [Nissa, Vastwood Seer]
● RG Tokens
OUT
2 [Duskwatch Recruiter]
1 [Dromoka’s Command]
IN
2 [Declaration in Stone]
1 [Reality Smasher]
OUT
2 [Duskwatch Recruiter]
1 [Dromoka’s Command]
IN
2 [Declaration in Stone]
1 [Reality Smasher]
■ The tournament:
I had the worst possible start by losing round 1 to… you guessed it, GW Tokens!
Game one was lost because of a maindeck [Dragonlord Dromoka] and the other because of [Archangel Avacyn] when I only had three [Reflector Mages] and no [Eldrazi Displacer]. Bant Humans is good against tokens and Planeswalkers, but less so against large flyers ([Linvala, the Preserver] is also an issue).
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One problem with [Collected Company] decks is that you have to keep the number of creatures you can hit with it pretty high. But against Green White tokens I chose to ignore this rule. The cards you want in hand are [Dromoka’s Command] and [Negate], and I didn’t want to leave any of them in the sideboard.
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Many times during the WMCQ, I had the choice between attacking with [Lambholt Pacifist] for 4 on turn 3(with [Dromoka’s Command] or [Thalia’s Lieutenant]) or play [Tireless Tracker]. I played [Tireless Tracker] each time, the deck is mainly made of 2 mana cards, and it’s better to play a 2 drop on turn 4 with [Dromoka’s Command] mana up.
Curving out in the start is very important and keeping your [Dromoka’s Command], [Reflector Mage] or [Thalia’s Lieutenant] for the opportune moment is key.
■ Results:
85 players attended the event, with me, Julien Henry and Louis Deltour playing Bant Humans. We finished first, fifth and ninth place. The total result is 18 wins and 5 losses (one loss was a mirror match) adding up to a 78% win rate!
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Top8. Left to right: Jeremy Dezani(Bant Humans)、Rapahel Levy(GW Tokens)、Alain Bardini(GW Midrange)、Eliott Boussaud(Mono Blue Prison)、Cedric Merlet(WR Eldrazi)、Louis Deltour(Bant Humans)、Thierry Ramboa(RG Tokens)、Loic Le Briand(Mono White Humans)。
This top 8 was packed with strong players with a combined 40 Grand Prix Top 8s and 131 Pro Points between us this season.
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I am really happy to have won the first WMCQ. It is already a great start to the new season (2016/2017) and it’s always an honor to be able to fight for my country.
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I stayed at Raphael’s place during the weekend and I have seen a lot of trophies but the most famous one, of which I am dreaming about having one as well, has to be this one.
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If I were to play another standard tournament, I would play the same deck again for sure. It was very nice to play, and I got to play several interesting games, going forward I have the utmost faith in the deck.
I Hope you will enjoy Bant Humans as much as I did and have lots of success with it.
Jeremy Dezani,
Hareruya Pros
Cards found in the Article
[Eldrazi Displacer]
[Thalia’s Lieutenant]
[Tireless Tracker]
[Collected Company]
He was the 2013-14 Player of the Year with his crowning achievement taking place at Pro Tour Theros where he won in spectacular fashion with Blue Devotion back in 2013.
He has a stunning 10 Grand Prix Top 8s to his name including 2 wins and Runner-up twice.
He will also be the first Non-Japanese player to join the ranks of the Hareruya Pros.
