Ride Antic '11 and Burton Cartel bindings

I think you'll be happy enough with that combo. I run a much stiffer binding on mine, but that's just an overall preference thing. It's not a hard board to flex in my experience.

The Antic is a pretty damn damp board. I wouldn't want to go too soft on it, I think a good stiff binding like a Cartel would be pretty good but I'd look into something even stiffer personally. You riding all mountain? Park? What. If you ride park, go Malavita.

i used to ride that board.

I liked the extreme dampness personally, but its not for everyone.

I just want to carve and free ride. I am not looking to do free style. Maybe small jumps once I get better.

Any specific bindings I should be looking at? I want good control of my board and good response. I want to feel like I can easily link my toe side turn to my heel side.
Im new to the sport so unsure if I'm making sense when I explain.
Big help though to everyone. Thanks

I don't think the combo you are suggesting is a problem. You could go more stiff like Rome Targas or Raiden Blackhawks, but the Cartels are a solid binding for what you want to do.