Welcome to another edition of This week in Magic! It’s a new week, and we’re playing with a new format! No more huge essays. We’re going to save those for special ocassions. Instead, we’re going to highlight different things in the game. It could be a player, a piece of artwork, or a deck. This week, we’re going to take a look at the deck that took 1st place at the recent TCG Player State tournament. This was piloted by Brandon Harrison and he played a version of Bant Aggro. Here’s the list:

Bant Aggro

Brandon Harrison
TCG Player State Championship – 1st Place
MAIN DECK
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Den Protector
4 Hangarback Walker
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Stratus Dancer
4 Warden of the First Tree
3 Wingmate Roc
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Dispel
4 Dromoka’s Command
3 Silkwrap
2 Canopy Vista
4 Flooded Strand
5 Forest
2 Lumbering Falls
3 Plains
2 Prairie Stream
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
Side Board
2 Avatar of the Resolute
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
2 Evolutionary Leap
3 Lantern Scout
1 Mastery of the Unseen
1 Stratus Dancer
2 Valorous Stance

So as you can see, it’s basically a solid GW deck but makes a couple of splashes for a single copy of Dispel and a couple copies of Stratus Dancer. There is nothing wrong with having a couple of extra morph creatures when you’re playing a full package of Deathmist Raptors. They’re also a great decoy for you Den Protectors. And, finally, they’re morph ability is added protection against removal spells because those spells will ruin your deck since your so heavy in creatures.

Otherwise, playing the deck is simple. Play your extremely efficient creatures and beat your opponent down. Every single creature is something your opponent must deal with.

The side board is pretty resilliant against a lot of decks in the format. My only issue with the deck is probably the one Dispel in the main board. I’m not a fan of single spells in the main board. I would probably move that one Dispel to the side board and maybe replace it with the single Stratus Dancer. This makes the deck a little bit more aggressive. If you run into a strong control deck, you can always bring in the Dispels if needed. And if you don’t like the additional Dispel in the side board, then you can always add another Mastery of the Unseen.

Well that’s it for this week. Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween! Hope to see you all next week for the Extra Life event on November 7th!