The Bant (UWG) list starts off strong with:
4x Farseek
4x Selesnya Charm
(1x something, Cyclonic Rift)
And finishes well with:
4x Restoration Angel
4x Thragtusk
2x Garruk, Tamiyo
2x Angel of Serenity
0-2x Some other big guy (Craterhoof Behemoth, Sphinx's Revelation, Entreat the Angels)
What we need to worry about at this point is what to do in "the middle". We have 10-13 deck slots to fill, depending on our land count, big guy count, etc, and most of them will be in the 3-4 casting cost range.
If we combine the lists for the Green, and Azorious 3 and 4 casting cost slots, we have quite a few cards competing for not very many slots.
Potential 4-ofs:
3cc:
Centaur Healer
Loxodon Smiter
I love both of these guys. Both get more relevant with Township, rather than Cavern. We probably can't have more than 5 of these guys total, a mix is probably appropriate. These will be our front-line of interaction with Restoration Angel. Both are good on the blink-blocks, and Healer provides additional value the second time around.
Detention Sphere
All purpose removal spell? Sign me up. You have to be able to interact with planeswalkers, creatures, and tokens, this does all of those. I really want 4, but we might not have the slots.
4cc:
Jace, Architect of Thought
I started out pretty strong with this guy, but he does stress the mana, and really feels like he's an "in between" play, rather than a "win the game" play. His advantage doesn't build as much over the turns against midrange/control like Garruk or Tamiyo would, since he has to minus to get "value". I'd rather have a 5-cc planeswalker than him, and I keep finding myself having to cut him, to fit in 3's, or 2's.
Potential 1-ofs:
3cc:
Borderland Ranger
Oblivion Ring
I don't really like either of these. We may only have two basics in the deck, and O-Ringing a Detention Sphere just seems like a worse way of just destroying the Detention Sphere itself. I'd prefer a card like Acidic Slime in this spot, since it's a creature, it can solve the utility land problem, can be blinked to reuse it, and we have Ray out of the sideboard for Spheres anyway.
4cc:
Ranger's Path
This will be much better once we have Breeding Pool. Still might warrant one, with only 4x Temple Garden and 1x Forest to find. Moreso the more Gavony Townships or 'Hoofs we play.
Yeva, Nature's Herald
1x is the limit here. This gives a good amount of planeswalker pressure without overextending. She has two (terrible) creature types, so she might be hard to cast. Sounds like a sideboard card against sweepers.
Supreme Verdict
I like having a "catch up" card, and this is a pretty live draw. It is immune to counters, though the restrictive casting cost may be a problem. Being able to Farseek into this, into creatures/planeswalkers gives a good out against aggro. Kind of awkward with all the creatures in the deck...
At this point, I feel like:
3x Healer
3x Smiter
4x Detention Sphere
Might be what we want from the above lists in the 3-4 range (aka in the 3-range).
This gets the interaction started early, frees up our mana a bit without stressing too much at the 4-level, and frees up slots for some other stuff early and late.
1-2x Cloudshift, as a "4 drop" along side all the 3's.
This also gives us a bit more ability to go 3-drop, Tapland on turn 3 after Farseeking T2, or being able to pay for Syncopate for 1 on the play.
We can even bump up the 5-drop planeswalker count by one this way. If you think about it, we don't really want to race to drop a PW, and just get it killed. We want to cast our blocker, then drop a planeswalker, and use it to win the game. Jace isn't really winning any games, compared to Tamiyo or Garruk. And, the more big guys we play, the better Garruk looks, as additional (or original) Sphinx's Revelations.
Garruk and Tamiyo/Sphinx (GGG, UU) definately stretch the mana base without Breeding Pool, and both can't use Cavern to help out. A Garruk deck might have no double-blue spells, and just splash Sphere, Rift, and the like without maxing out on the blue/white lands, whereas a Tamiyo/Sphinx deck should probably lean a bit more away form the double, much less single, greens.
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