Welcome to another week of the Daily Dose of Ravnica Allegiance. This week I’ll be focusing on cards from each of the five guilds as we prepare for prerelease less than two weeks away! Often when you think of Control deck color combinations you think of Azorius, Jeskai, or even Grixis Control. What you don’t often see is Simic or Bant Control. Today I’m going to be talking to you about 3 new cards from Ravnica Allegiance that could change that. I was never a big control player for years, but recently thanks to the many different versions of Jeskai Control I’ve moved over to the dark side. With the emergence of some cards from Ravnica Allegiance, I might move from Jeskai over to Simic or Bant Control.
First off, I want to talk about a new counterspell that will fill a void in the current Standard format. Here is Quench.
Currently in Standard, the only two mana counterspells you have at your disposal are Disdainful Stroke, Negate, Essence Scatter, and Syncopate. Quench is better than all those options in the early to mid game. It is also much harder for your opponent to play around a Quench compared to a Syncopate for one as well. Against decks like Golgari, you will be able to counter anything from turns 2 to 5 with it. I think this will find a spot in all Standard control decks in the coming months.
Next, I want to talk about a creature from my favorite four mana creature cycle that we’ve seen in the past two sets. With cards like Crackling Drake taking over Standard, it’s time for another to make an impact. Here is Frilled Mystic.
Who doesn’t like a good Mystic Snake like creature in the Standard format. This fits perfectly into a Bant Control deck, in which you almost always keep four mana open against your opponent on turn four. This allows you have this available to cast and if your opponent doesn’t cast a spell you could use cards like Chemister’s Insight to draw some cards. It’s even better than Mystic Snake when it comes to the power and toughness department coming in at a 3/2. This will allow you get in more damage and trade up better than a 2/2 would in combat.
Finally, I want to talk about a card that has a ton of deckbuilding potential. Here is the exciting Wilderness Reclamation.
The possibilities for this card are endless. The simple part of this card is that you can cast use mana during your turn and your opponents turn. What is the best use of that though? I think control decks would benefit the most from it. You would be able to play spells during your turn without the worry of being tapped out during your opponents turn if you need to play a counterspell or something like Settle the Wreckage. Taking it to he next level would be using Addendum spells during your turn to get their bonus for casting them during your main phase. You could play Sphinx’s Insight to gain 2 life and draw 2 cards without being tapped out. Remember the new Frilled Mystic I just talked about. It would be a great follow-up after playing Wilderness Reclamation on turn four.
Going to the next level would be to tap your mana in response to the end step trigger so you can cast an instant spell using mana equal to double the number of lands you have. The best one of course being Nexus of Fate using only 4 lands to cast it. Don’t worry I didn’t forget about a big Expansion // Explosion in a Temur deck as well. If you are looking for creatures that you could cheat out with Flash, how about Chromium, the Mutable and Dream Eater. Some pretty good creatures to get out for only 4 lands.
As you can see, my wheels are turning with possibilities for a sweet Bant Control deck using these 3 cards. I look forward to seeing if Ravnica Allegiance has another few treats for this deck. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose. Join me tomorrow as I continue with a talk on some Gruul cards that are bound to be a riot!
