Casey Laughman: Bad Company
The first big tournament with Eldritch Moon in the format is in the books, and our very own Devin Koepke took down the Star City Games Open in Columbus.
While congratulations are of course in order for Devin, I have my reservations about encouraging further use of Collected Company. After all, only 17 of the top 32 decks were running CoCo, so it’s clearly just a fringe strategy that can’t be counted on to be a contender every week.
Eh, that joke’s going nowhere. The card’s busted and Eldritch Moon made it even more busted. Consider Devin’s list from the weekend:
That would be six creatures that have flash; six creatures that can give the team indestructible; four copies of an instant that can cheat 25 of the 27 creatures into play; four copies of the most annoying creature in recent memory (yes you, Reflector Mage); four copies of the second-most annoying creature in recent memory (Spell Queller, and if you think I’m wrong now, give it a couple months); a Command that costs two mana; a two-drop that does a reasonable Tarmogoyf impersonation; another two-drop that either digs for more creatures or reduces their cost; and a three-drop that causes opponents’ creatures and nonbasic lands to come into play tapped. Oh, and Tireless Tracker, which is the least unfair card in the entire deck.
Obviously, we’re stuck with this deck — and perhaps others similar to it — for a couple months. Which means either we beat it or we join it. Choosing “join it” would make this a rather short article, so let’s see if we can’t figure out how to beat it.
The first step is determining the deck’s strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths: Ability to play at instant speed; mana efficiency (four mana for 4-6 mana worth of creatures); ability to disrupt opponents’ tempo; resiliency; can win without CoCo by simply curving out and bouncing or countering a key blocker.
Weaknesses: Relative lack of card advantage without Collected Company; small creatures; removal is contingent on having a creature to fight with.
Now, we have to figure out how to attack the strengths and exploit the weaknesses. First, the cards that are right out:
Having either Painful Truths or Radiant Flames be Spell Quellered is a disaster, because if you do get to cast them later, X=0. So we should probably look elsewhere for these effects or reasonable alternatives. As much as I hate to admit it, Kalitas might also fall into this category, because it gets hit pretty hard by both Reflector Mage and Spell Queller.
Attacking the Strengths: Removal
The first thing we have to be able to do is kill the creatures, and to do so at instant speed as much as possible. Grasp of Darkness is ideal, because it can kill every creature in the deck and 
indestructibility does nothing to save it. Anguished Unmaking could also be good, but the three life is a real cost against such a tempo-oriented deck. Ultimate Price and Murder are necessary evils. Non-black options aren’t great; while Fiery Impulse, Fiery Temper, Lightning Axe, Galvanic Bombardment and Draconic Roar can all kill a number of the creatures, they all have pretty serious drawbacks. Rending Volley and Tears of Valakut might be reasonable sideboard options, but they can still be hit by Spell Queller as the ETB effect doesn’t try to counter the spell. Kozilek’s Return doesn’t do much when cast, but could helpful if you can trigger the graveyard effect.
The best option: Some combination of Grasp of Darkness, Ultimate Price and Murder, with emphasis on Grasp of Darkness.
For sorcery-speed answers, Languish is the clear winner, with Planar Outburst and Tragic Arrogance in distant second and third. Descend Upon the Sinful may be an option as well, and would be a really good option if it didn’t cost six. Ruinous Path has to be played to help clean up planeswalkers.
The best option: Languish.
Attacking the Strengths: Disrupting the Mana Efficiency
Of the 25 lands in the Bant Collected Company deck, 16 of them are non-basic. That opens up the possibility of fighting Thalia with Thalia. Of course, she’s weak against Reflector Mage and Spell Queller. About the only other options for messing with mana are World Breaker and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
A better tactic here might be loading up on Duress and Transgress the Mind to try to hit Collected Company. Transgress also hits 16 of the 27 creatures, so it would probably be the preferred method. If nothing else, Duress can make them cast Collected Company on your terms instead of theirs.
The best option: Transgress the Mind, followed by Duress. Thalia is a possibility, but trying to disrupt the mana directly is probably a bad idea.
Attacking the Strengths: Tempo
You’re not going to out-tempo this deck, so your choices are to either go under or go over. Going under basically means playing some form of W/R Humans, so let’s talk about going over.
U/R Emerge was getting a lot of hype last week, then faceplanted, placing only one deck in the top 64 of the SCG event. Elder Deep-Fiend does still seem like a good way to fight the CoCo decks, though, so it’s definitely a consideration. Emrakul, the Promised End, Ulamog and World Breaker all seem like possibilities; Drowner of Hope could be a thing, too.
On a different axis, Linvala, the Preserver is pretty decent in this matchup. Unfortunately, so many of the creatures that could potentially hold down the fort are terrible against Reflector Mage. Good thing they never bothered to test that card.
The best option: Eldrazi, I guess?
Exploiting the Weaknesses: Card Advantage
Painful Truths is no good here, but Read the Bones is. Succumb to Temptation might be an option. Tormenting Voice isn’t terrible. The choices for blue aren’t great; Dragonlord’s Prerogative might be the best bet if you just want raw card advantage.
Planeswalkers can play a big role here. Ob Nixilis Reignited, Sorin, Grim Nemesis and Chandra, Flamecaller can all kill creatures and provide card advantage. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets can help dig for answers and bounce creatures to help keep you alive long enough to use the answers.
The best option: Planeswalkers, backed up by Read the Bones.
Now we just have to figure out how to make a deck out of all of this. The first two options that come to mind are Esper and Grixis.
Esper Control
The Grixis list isn’t much different.
Grixis Control
If we decide that counterspells aren’t the way we want to go, there’s always everybody’s favorite wedge.
Abzan Seasons Past
Obviously, these are starting points, and frankly, I’m not sure if any of them are the answer or not. To put it bluntly, we may just be looking at three months of CoCo mirrors fighting it out. But if you’ve got ideas for how to make these lists better or something else entirely that you think has what it takes to beat Bant, sound off in the comments.
Casey Laughman is editor of Nerd Rage Gaming. Contact him at claughman@gmail.com.
Comments
