Bant Golos is Ramp-ant in Standard

Field of the Dead is a card that was the engine of one of the most powerful decks in the previous Standard format, and it turns out it's still amazing with Throne of Eldraine. Bant Golos is a deck that plays a bunch of good cards in a ramp shell that just gets to churn out tons of free 2/2 zombies every turn in the late game.

Bant Golos Decklist

4 Growth Spiral
4 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
1 Agent of Treachery
3 Arboreal Grazer
4 Hydroid Krasis
4 Once Upon a Time
4 Circuitous Route
3 Realm-Cloaked Giant/Cast Off
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Fae of Wishes/Granted
4 Field of the Dead
2 Forest (347)
2 Breeding Pool
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Castle Vantress
2 Fabled Passage
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island (335)
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Plains (331)
1 Plaza of Harmony
1 Selesnya Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
2 Temple Garden
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Tranquil Cove
2 Aether Gust
1 Agent of Treachery
1 Deputy of Detention
2 Knight of Autumn
1 March of the Multitudes
2 Negate
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Time Wipe
1 Unmoored Ego
2 Veil of Summer
1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Bant Field of the Dead (Arena Formatted Decklist)

Field of the Dead is the core engine of the deck, and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is a perfect support card. Since it can search for any land, it makes it much easier to assemble multiple copies of Field of the Dead and start creating massive value, but it can also just ramp you to seven different lands while grabbing that perfect color or utility land such as Castle Vantress along the way. Its activated ability is actually extremely relevant, as it's just a stronger play than casting any individual spell most of the time and can let you present a lethal board without committing any actual resources.

Growth Spiral is still nuts in any deck that plays a sufficient land count, and it curves perfectly into the premium ramp spell of the format, Circuitous Route. Between Circuitous Route's ability to search out Gates and all of the miscellaneous lifegain lands in Standard, it's actually very easy to fulfill the seven different names requirement of Field of the Dead while assembling a reasonable Bant-based manabase. The access to these off-color gates then make it easy to have access to Golo's activated ability in the late game. Arboreal Grazer also has enough lands to be an effective card, enabling a turn two Teferi (while also protecting it) or just an easier Growth Spiral curve with a tap land.

The power level of Once Upon a Time shines through in this deck. Ramp decks have inherent consistency issues, since you need to draw your ramp spells and lands early and your payoffs later. Once Upon a Time lets you perfectly sculpt your opening, either picking up a missing color of mana or grabbing an Arboreal Grazer if you have a good hand for ramping. If your mana is looking to be well established, it gives you a ton more looks for cards like Hydroid Krasis and Golos. Speaking of creatures that act like spells, Realm-Cloaked Giant is a sweet addition from Throne of Eldraine to include in this package. Your wrath effect can now be found with Once Upon a Time, and it leaves behind a random fatty to cast with your ramp deck if you end up whiffing on things to do in a drawn out game.

Hydroid Krasis and Teferi, Time Raveler are as powerful as ever, and this deck is happy to be able to easily cast some of the best spells in Standard. Teferi is great at buying time and smoothing out your draw, but its passive ability is also massive upside against the counterspells that would normally be a solid strategy against a ramp deck. Hydroid Krasis fills in your curve in the mid game and presents a massive threat while digging you deeper towards your endgame.

Our list above experiments with a single copy of Fae of Wishes, as it drastically increases our options if we expect the metagame to be a slogfest of slower decks. The Fae can act as extra sweepers against aggressive decks, fetching either Time Wipe or Planar Cleansing. It can gain you access to sideboard hate cards in game 1. But most importantly, it can simply fetch your copy of Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and just let you win the game through a stalled board. This deck can churn through its entire 60 between ramping out lands, drawing cards with Hydroid Krasis, and activating Golos. If you're stalled out in a mirror match where everyone has an infinite chain of either creatures or sweepers, you can simply win the game in a different way. You can even protect against the possibility of interaction simply by having a Teferi on the battlefield when you go for the win.

The cards we've highlighted above represent the core of the deck, but it can be quite further customized from there. This is a deck that can relatively easily gain access to any color of mana, so a few choice cards between the maindeck and the sideboard could be included that drastically alter any particular matchups in a known metagame. Since the endgame of this deck is built around a land, it is a strategy that is pretty difficult to plan for or even sideboard against. Field of the Dead is sure to be a dominant card for as long as it exists in Standard, so it's worth your while to either learn how to play against this deck or pick it up yourself!

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Michael Schuller

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