Modern is definitely not a format that’s known for its control decks. In fact one of the weaknesses of the format is that it has actually been historically difficult for a control deck to exist, due to having so many unique and powerful strategies occupying the same space; control decks typically thrive when they’re able to counter or respond to whatever the popular strategy is doing.
That being said, every so often I’m able to find a sweet control deck that performs surprisingly well in Modern. Even more often that deck is piloted by renowned Magic Online user osmanozguney. Seriously, I know I’ve piloted a ton of decks created by him and I have a ton of respect for Osman Ozguney. He rarely seems to play anything conventional, and everything of his that I try always seems to exceed expectations. Hopefully today’s list will be no different.
1 Anticipate
1 Collective Brutality
4 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Cryptic Command
2 Damnation
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Disfigure
2 Hero’s Downfall
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Island
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Mana Leak
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
4 Polluted Delta
2 Remand
4 Serum Visions
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Sunken Ruins
2 Swamp
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Victim of Night
2 Watery Grave
Sideboard
2 Collective Brutality
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Negate
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Thoughtseize
Yes, you’ve read that correctly: Ob Nixilis Reignited, Liliana, the Last Hope (that’s the new one!), and Hero’s Downfall…in Modern. This is exactly what I’m talking about. Just mono-innovation! And that’s not even it! He also has copies of Collective Brutality and Jace, Architect of Thought, two more cards that are pretty foreign in Modern. There’s a copy of Anticipate in the deck for crying out loud! There’s Victim of Night! You can comment on the unique inclusion of nearly every card! To say I couldn’t wait to try this deck out would be an extreme understatement.
Okay, it’s worth noting that I also played this deck at FNM and didn’t lose a match. It was unreal good. The deck has answers to practically every strategy in the format (aside from maybe three mana artifacts or enchantments). I played against Infect and it was a complete blow out. Do you know how good Liliana, the Last Hope is against a deck full of 1/1 creatures? Insanely good. At one point my opponent tried to save his Glistener Elf with a Mutagenic Growth. We both thought that was fine…then we both realized that it wasn’t as he began his turn and had to bin his elf.
One change that I would make is simply adding a copy of either Steam Vents or Blood Crypt to have a third color for our Engineered Explosives. This can be really versatile and doesn’t actually cost us much. For example, in our Esper Control matchup, having something to destroy Detention Spheres with would have been backbreaking. This could similarly take out things like Ensnaring Bridge or Etched Champion as well. I would also find room for a third Island, simply because I like having enough basics to cast all the spells in our deck if a Blood Moon comes down, but it isn’t entirely necessary.
This deck was amazing. It’s not often I’m completely blown away by how a deck performs, but this deck was head and shoulders above a lot of the other decks I’ve played recently. The deck has Ob Nixilis Reignited in it! Can you even comprehend that?! Whether you can or can’t, I definitely recommend trying this list out. It was superb. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next week.
Frank Lepore
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