Prison Bant follows the same strategy of a Workshop deck. I have been using ESG/Land in the same fashion Workshop uses Mox/Shop to power out my two drops. Now I have access to Thalia (or the Lodestone Golem for GWx beatdown). It is not just about being good against blue or 'living the dream' as stated in the article:
The prevalence of Mishra's Workshop decks makes me feel that Thalia is probably a bit of a liability to play in the main deck—I mean, it would be pretty awkward for the Bant deck to run out a Thorn against Workshops—but I'm sure some hateful young men and women are going to try and live the dream of: super-hateful against blue, all the time.
The ESG's and Noble Hierarch in a GWu prison bant deck will play a crucial role in powering out Trygon Predator around any sphere effects while wasting their manabase. So I think the statement is simply wrong when it says it is about being super hateful against blue. Besides, Thalia is strong in aggro mirrors and dredge as well. The point is that it is not only about Thalia, it is about an entire design that has a solid game plan versus blue and workshop and dredge to start with and probably will overrun aggro with high numbers. The problem is those trendy blue control decks with Snaps, Bob's, Trygon's and a lot counters/removal. So with this in mind, it is probably the opposite when it comes to living the dream with Thalia against blue. Blue is no longer 'storm' 'control'.
I am working on an article and doing a lot of testing. I don't know how long it will take to finish. So far I believe other cards that are important to make Thalia work are Phyrexian Revoker and Chalice of the Void. You don't want to hose your own acceleration because there are not many lands and a decent amount of 3 drops. Also, There is only Noble as the 1 drop so setting Chalice@1 is an important response to those STP, Bolts, Claims, Vapors. Any non creature spells that cost more than 1 will have a hard time anyway against a sphere deck.
Speaking of the creature and 'non' creature issue, since the deck will have a lot answers against non creatures, I believe packing some good silver bullet against creatures is going to be strong. Sower of Temptation is a bit costly but maybe Preacher or Old man of the Sea, Seasinger types of card will work well. I would think SFM but I want to run Leonin Arbiter too. So I put SFM in the SB for now. (can change)
To conclude, I want to state that after trying out Thalia in several builds, she does limit options too. I don't think you can run Thalia with a counter / cat approach. Logically, this means running as much creatures as possible and answering as much as you can in the form of bears. This leads me to the conclusion that Edric is the right call here. And Glowrider instead of Thorn with the same logic. Also Phyrexian Revoker instead of Null Rod for example.
There are so many things wrong with this post:
First of all, my job as a SCG writer while writing a set review is to identify the key cards that will see constructed play, to explain how and why they will see play, and then also to identify other niche places where the card 'could' see play.
In this case, I said that the most popular application for Thalia will be a sideboard card, essentially being a better Ethersworn Cannonist against spell heavy decks would be the most common application for this card, that has the drawbacks of being Legendary (and therefore not cumulative) and bad against Workshops (a deck that wants to play thorns already, and is full of creatures that are bigger than yours and lands that tap for multiple Mana), but that some people will also play it in hateful anti-blue style decks; which I feel is a very fair assessment of how this card will be used in Vintage.
Apparently, you have decided to post that this assessment is simply 'wrong,' because you have a Bant Prison deck; which admittedly plays: Chalice of the Void (to beat a bunch of cards that blue decks play), Wasteland, Thalia, Leonin Arbiter, and Phyrexian Revoker, all cards that people play specifically to beat blue decks. You have literally described the quintessential 'blue-hate' fish deck, that you say I am 'wrong' for identifying as a fringe application for Thalia.
My job in writing the review isn't to identify every single random player's pet deck and tell everybody why it is super cool. Let's call a spade a spade here, all you have done is built a hateful deck that's good at fighting Gush and Preordain decks. Just because you have Trygon Predator doesn't change the fact that Thalia, in and of herself, is an embarrassingly poor card against aggro and Workshop; and besides, it isn't exactly cutting edge technology to put Trygon Predator into your Bant creature mana denial deck, pretty much every deck with a Tropical Island should be or already is playing Trygon Predator these days.
Nonetheless, the deck you are describing is probably pretty good at beating blue decks and a serious underdog to Workshops and Agro decks. You have essentially brewed up a far end of the spectrum Paper deck, in a metagame where the decks I would immediately expect to get better and become more popular are Scissors decks (Workshop and Agro).
Also, Chalice for 1 doesn't stop Dismember or a Hurkyl's Recall (the two most commonly played 'removal spells' in the format, which I anticipate are going to be EVERYWHERE.
It isn't that you can't or shouldn't maindeck Thalia, I just don't think that is the best way to use this card in general. I think there is a big problem with saying that Thalia is a four of in the same way that Lodestone Golem is a four of: because once you get the first Lodestone into play, the best card you can then play on the next turn is, ANOTHER Lodestone Golem. With Thalia, the worst card you can draw is probably another Thalia. Lodestone Golem, powered out quickly is also bigger than a Tarmogoyf, whereas Thalia probably can't fight a green guy.
I didn't say you couldn't or shouldn't play this card in the maindeck, I specifically said that she could have a home in decks that are geared up anti-blue decks, and let's be fair: if you are playing Arbiter, Chalice, Null Rod, Grafdigger's Cage, Thalia, Revoker, etc., who are you really positioning yourself and gaining percentage against by virtue of playing with these cards?
I'll give you a hint: it isn't everything in the metagame.
