Lantern Control: The Return of Control to Modern

Magic design has moved away from the sorts of cards needed to make Lock decks work. Getting locked out of a game and being forced to sit and watch, helpless to impact the game, is a seriously unfun experience for players. As a result, we don’t see much support for strategies that attempt to do this. I’d love to include a recent Lock deck to show how they look today, but there haven’t been any successful Lock decks in years. This is not to say they will never return, or that someone couldn’t break a format open by discovering something R&D missed. Control decks may have begun with Lock, but they haven’t ended with it. 

I read this section from Patrick Chapin's Next Level Deckbuilding the same day Zac Elsik was unseemingly making his way through day 1 of Grand Prix Charlotte, more than a month ago. The same weekend, I was tuning a Legacy Ral Zarek Stasis deck as a thought experiment, reading Patrick Chapin’s words on the Lock deck archetype. Little did we know the cards had all been there for three years, waiting for Modern to settle just right so that it requires just a few key artifacts to lock a player out of the game.

One of the biggest questions players have of the Modern format is “why are there no control decks?” Of course, the people asking this really mean “why are there no blue, draw-go control decks?” Shaun McLaren’s (at-the-time-named) American Control deck took down Pro Tour Born of the Gods, but the likes were never to see success again. Some would argue that deck succeeded largely because it was a Pro Tour metagame: where control players can more accurately assume how to answer the metagame.

I’m not good enough of a theorist or Modern guru to effectively put into words why “draw-go” control decks can’t succeed in Modern, but I don’t need to. We already mostly understand that it’s because the format is so broad that you can’t effectively tune your deck to be able to control every deck’s threats. Particularly not in a format where most decks are midrange decks with a combo element.

But for people clamoring for a control deck in modern: we finally have one. One that has been tested and tuned to be good enough to stay.

Magic players from the 90s or those aware of Magic history can clearly see how "Lantern Lock" is a control deck, and that it even resembles The Deck.

Fundamentally, these decks are from the same family: Lock.

Let’s read Patrick Chapin’s words on The Deck, since it works in explaining how Lantern Control functions:

The Deck was, if not the first first Control deck, the line in the sand that changed how Magic players thought about the game. The Deck harmonized multiple then-unappreciated thresholds of Magic strategy. Most important of these was card advantage, which included drawing extra cards, destroying (or neutralizing) multiples of the opponent’s cards with a smaller number of cards, and forcing your opponent to draw dead cards. 

The Deck used one-for-one removal and permission spells to give itself enough time and secure its lock pieces and sources of card advantage: Moat neutralized all creatures, Serra Angel neutralized all creatures that can’t properly attack into her, the lack of targets for Lightning Bolt and other removal spells, and of course the draw spells drew cards.

 Lantern Control gains the same advantages to lock opponents out of the game through different means. Ensnaring Bridge neutralizes most every attacking creature, interactive spells are rendered without useful targets other than the red herring that is Spell Skite, and Lantern controls the opponent’s draw stop keep them from drawing relevant spells. Lantern Control main-decks unusual cards like Pithing Needle and Surgical Extraction because they answer the few cards that could stop its game plan.

I would like to introduce the matchups where Lantern Control will struggle, but it must be noted that, as a Lock deck, it is an unfair deck, meaning it fights on an axis most opponents cannot interact with. Unfair decks bring guns to a sword fight.

Against Fair decks, the problem areas are:

• Sideboard hate to fight the unfair decks. In particular, cards prepared for Affinity: Stony Silence, Shatterstorm, Ancient Grudge, Kataki… 
• Aggressive creature decks that can finish you with burn. 
• Creatures that can attack through Ensnaring Bridge, such as Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch, that then kill you with exalted triggers or pump spells. 

Against Unfair decks:

• Their plan coming together faster than yours. Amulet Bloom, Tron, and Ad Nauseum can win before you lock them out of the game, and can win through Ensnaring Bridge. 
• Burn is a problematic unfair deck because its creatures deal damage to you well before Ensnaring Bridge comes online, and they have the tools to burn you out – sidestepping your tools of suppression. 
• Infect is similar to burn in that they can likely attack through an Ensnaring Bridge and finish you with pump spells. 

Lantern Control has tools to fight against all of these problem areas, a testament to how well built it is. The interactive spells help to remove the cards that matter in their opening hands or early resolved permanents before locking them out.

Congratulations to Zac Elsik. Many of us will strive for a lifetime to break the format in such a shocking, innovative way as you did.

Learning from Brewing - Ral Zarek Stasis - LEGACY

What is the absolute, best deck I can make with Ral Zarek?

There’s a guy at my LGS whose abilities in Legacy have always impressed me. He was capable of performing with seemingly unplayable decks and even more questionable cards.

Panglacial Wurm.

Countryside Crusher.

Tymaret, the Murder King.

I realized it wasn’t because of supreme skill in brewing. At least not just that.

The king of ideas is not the king of brainstorming. Brainstorming is merely a creative process.

We can all brainstorm. Few can execute ideas.

I realized that he was able to make such peculiar decks perform and function because of his understanding of Legacy as a whole. He could see the problems his decks would face or find ways to exploit weaknesses of the format.

I set out to compete with him as a learning venture for myself, and to have a little fun.

Our first competition would be simple – play one of the following cards as a main-deck four of:

• Rest In Peace
• Ral Zarek
• Dark Confidant
• Final Fortune
• Exploration
• Phyrexian Altar.

I came up the list really with the only bias that I found the card “cool.”

Some of these cards are not pervasively powerful, but all of these cards require deck-building considerations.

I found myself wanting to build with Ral Zarek since I had toyed around once with Stasis, and I figured the only time Ral Zarek was playable was if he was in Stasis.

I looked to see what others had been trying with Stasis. Fatpow - whom you could sometimes see on Joe Lossett’s stream checking in on his Stasis builds with Equipose – wrote on RUG Stasis builds that used Ral Zarek and Garruk Wildspeaker in addition to Quirion Ranger and Squib Ranger to synergize with Stasis. His list would have been my ideal (and would have doubly fit in the brewer’s competition) because of its speed from its turn 1 ramp plays in Exploration, Birds of Paradise, and Green Sun’s Zenith. Ral Zarek without green in your deck means you can’t stick him until turn 4, and can’t play him with Stasis until turn 5.

But I still was ready to build a UR Ral Zarek stasis deck. I had some experience with a mono-blue stasis deck built around the lock that really just felt like a kitchen table deck; which showed in the clunky cards it played. Sure you could perfect the lock with Frozen AEther or Vedalken Mastermind and deploy the win condition with Chronatog or Ebony Owl Netsuke… but those cards do nothing on their own. So how could we build a Stasis deck that could play cards that could do something on their own merit but still assist the combo? If we were in a color that could permit us flexibility…

Prison control decidedly became the type of deck this should be. Stasis backed up by a lot of permission spells and the card’s most powerful spell: Brainstorm.

Notable card discussion

Howling Mine started as a three-of because it seemed like something I wanted but didn’t need. I came to realize it was the most realistic way to enable Stasis. I can give them all of the cards they need because they won’t have the mana to play them all anyway, and I can interact with the few cards they play that matter.

Stifle became a lynchpin of the deck. Hitting fetchlands is the most common use to keep them from playing spells in the early game, but served a lot of versatility in interacting with problematic cards such as Aether Vial that got them too far ahead too quickly, Wastelands that could hit Forsaken City, Eldrazi shuffling their graveyard into their deck, Stoneforges that try to cheat in a vigilant germ, and creatures that could interact with Stasis like Flickerwisp or Reclamation Sage.

Howling Mine was considered as a way to speed us up in finding Stasis. Games would often occur where if we could just draw Stasis we would be fine, and Muddle the Mixture is too slow to efficiently tutor it out. But there just wasn’t often enough time to do anything with the spell.

Repeal was high on the list as a way to slow our opponents by bouncing creatures that could also be used late game to bounce our own Stasis to recover access to mana.

Ivory Tower was a card I just completely missed. It is a card that would address the many times where we  deploy an early Stasis without a Ral Zarek to stabilize, but they then play out lands and play creatures as burn spells and burn spells of their own merit to close out the game.

I finally referenced Patrick Chapin’s book and could immediately see where the deck fit on the metagame wheel. And to my surprise the classic Stasis deck was still influential enough to have its own section!

I must say we are at a disadvantage as brewers when we don’t have the experience of a person like Patrick Chapin, a person that has been around the game since the beginning. Every deck has already been built and they have already seen it. They have an innate understanding of how to build a “cohesive deck” – a phrase thrown around so often I want to emphasize what it really means to have a cohesive deck. It is one where its purpose and function is clear, and every card slot is scrutinized for what it does as a whole. It is where the cards are players that form a deck as teammates.

Reading the section on Stasis was of course useful. It helped me realize how to cut the fat from the deck and make it lean. I laughed in agreement when he stated that the playability of this archetype in the current era was a 1.

He is of course totally right. The deck was bad. But I really think I built a deck that could play Legacy.

I brought it to the four-round store at my LGS and efficiently dispatched Storm by drawing an abundance of counterspells; miserly took a match against Cloudpost by winning a long game 1 with Stifles and drawing game 2; got beat up by RUG Delver; and got beat up by UR Delver.

I knew the Delver matchups were problematic, more so when they are high-velocity versions like the ones I played. I have to stabilize with a premature Stasis and they finish me off with Nimble Mongoose, Lightning Bolts, or Young Pyromancer elementals. Had I not missed Ivory Tower I might have had a better shot, but even that might be too slow.

I still was able to barely “outperform” my brewing buddy as someone hadn’t returned his Chalices which were necessary to give his creature-based Exploration deck a chance against combo decks. Of course he plays against Omni Tell the first two rounds. His third round was practically a bye in the 0-2 bracket but his round 4 match was a real match that meant he finished 2-2 as well.

It was all still for the thought experiment and challenging ourselves to tune brews. Anyone with an imagination can brew. What we can do, is find discipline and dedicate ourselves to harrowing down on our ideas until they are compelling. I am nowhere near that. And never will be close to someone like Patrick Chapin or even my brewing buddy. But it’s fun trying to work towards it.

SCG Worcester Open - Chalice Merfolk Tournament Report

DECK PREPARATION
I prepared for this tournament and how I wanted to aim against the expected metagame for weeks. The Premier IQ at Baltimore where I went with my primary legacy deck: storm was a month prior to this event. I didn’t feel good then playing storm because it was when people were hype about BUG Delver being a top deck in the format. But my alternative was a UWR Delver deck with a 75 I couldn’t get comfortable with. I took storm and of course I played BUG delver 3 times that day. I managed two of three wins (to be fair the match I lost was largely to poor play), and two other losses to dredge & RUG Delver. Both I consider slightly unfavorable matchups, but the RUG Delver games are an example of why I don’t want to be on storm: their hands play very easily against you and they often line up winning hands.

Legacy is of course so broad it’s difficult to metagame, but it’s still a decent way to gain an edge. I thought it would be a good time to bring out burn to attack the delver decks and miracles, but its inconsistencies and weakness to combo turned me away. I had been playing a UR Delver list, a list my friend whose Legacy expertise I respect plays, but the edges with that deck largely required tight technical play which I didn’t yet feel comfortable with. I then remembered out of the blue my first Legacy deck: Merfolk. When I played it, it felt like a really bad deck, but I could eventually realize that was because I was really bad at legacy. I played a Chalice version during the Treasure Cruise Era where it felt really good to play, so it became a deck I felt I could always revert to if it felt the time was right. With the resurgence of miracles and prevalence of blue decks, it felt like a good time to play mono-blue. And not the mono-blue that was the backstory of SCG Worcester: Omni Tell.

I was initially drawn to Merfolk for a false reason, but am glad I was drawn to it none the less. That false reason was thinking that the Omni Tell matchup was favorable - or at least even. After actually playing it, it felt like a 40% matchup even with chalices and a reasonable amount of sideboard cards. Still, the prevalence of Omni Tell swayed my decision to 4 Phantasmal Image, 2 Clique, and Venser in the board. Through help from Merfolk veterans at The Source and Salvation, I was sold on all of the Merfolk aspects I could never before decide upon. I registered this list.

 

THE TOURNAMENT

My travel group resorted to bus due to the exorbitant car rental prices due to Memorial Day Weekend, which also led to holiday delays on the bus. We ended up missing Round 1 but still all opted to enter Round 2 with a loss.

0-1

Round 2: Dredge

I began at the very last table of the tournament. It was in the exterior section of the tournament hall with glass windows which was pleasant, but it still felt like we were rejects.
G1 he mulligans to 4, his dredges were average. I set up a clock and Force his one Dread Return off of his Putrid Imp and two narcomoebas which meant I would win the damage race.
G2 he mulligans to 5 and I mulligan to 5 to find a hand that can do anything decent against dredge. I have just enough resources to set up winning another damage race due to an Echoing Truth closing the game.

1-1

The match was loosely based around mulligans but more so about setting up a clock while containing dredge’s explosive threats.

Round 3: Storm

G1 I win the die roll. His turn 1 he Duresses me, I instantly put him on storm and force the Duress with a Chalice in hand. I land the Chalice and he plays a few more turns before conceding.
G2 he Duresses out one chalice, but I have time to put one on 1 and another on 0. At one point he end step Echoing Truths the Chalices, only to fail to go off on his turn because he has no way to go hellbent for Infernal Tutor.

2-1

Chalices provide a good third dimension to battle unfair combo: proactive disruption. Just counter-magic is something storm can easily beat.

Round 4: Burn

G1 I Force of Will his Turn 1 on-the-play Goblin Guide. I trade a few creatures to preserve my life total so that my True-Name Nemesis can stabilize and set up a winning board state, which it does.
G2 He mulligans to 5 but has a reasonable draw. I get enough time to drop a TNN to stabilize with a FOW for his Fireblast.

3-1

We can win the board easily, it’s just making sure burn doesn’t have enough initial creature damage or time to let the reach of burn win the game.

Round 5: Omni Tell

I got paired against a friend and knew he was on Omni Tell.

G1 he makes a poor decision to not jam his Show and Tell against my 3 unknown cards and loses to my fast clock.
G2 I get to Cursecatcher, Vial on 1, into Clique away an Omniscience with some cantrips left in hand. I made a suboptimal play this game I can’t remember very well, something to do with a second Cursecatcher I had access to, but the point was that I hadn’t been playing well up to this point and focused to clean it up.

4-1

Proactive hands and hoping Omni Tell durdles is a plan.

Round 6: Omni Tell

This match blends with the previous, but essentially his draws were even more durdly than my previous opponent’s.

G1 he never gets a Show and Tell. At one point I miss a Chalice Trigger on a Ponder as I knew it was inconsequential anyway since it was the last card he was working with.
G2 I get to land a Chalice on 1. He still gets to resolve a few 2 CMC spells but for the most part his deck durdled while merfolk murdered.

5-1

Considering I got these two matches without drawing key sideboard cards left me optimistic and feeling that I was sufficiently prepared to beat Omni Tell.

Round 7: UR Delver

This ended up being the most interesting match of the day.

G1 he came out ahead, then I got the lead, then we mostly got to parody, but then he resolves Dig Through Time, passing with Mountain + Wasteland Open, with an untapped Monastery Swiftspear. On my turn I can attack with Lord, Silvergill, Cursecatcher when he is at 3 life. Assuming he has bolt, this means he can 2 for 1 me, blocking Lord, bolt Silvergill, and Cursecatcher gets through 2 damage. I decide it’s worth attacking into the 2 for 1 because 1 life means he can’t attack the rest of the game without an edge on creatures. On his turn he removes my Cursecatcher and attacks me to near death. I draw…

Phantasmal Image. Come in as Swiftspear, swing for lethal.

G2 I lose the game on a turn where I play a Phantasmal Image into a Daze after Vialing in a Silvergill Adept. I had a True-Name in hand so I had this terrible line of thinking where that would win me the game regardless. He deploys his own TNN and then another the following turn to put the race easily in his favor. Not only was the Phantasmal Image into the Daze horrendous, but I should’ve put him on having at least one True-Name or another based on his limited number of early game plays, but it wasn’t something I was thinking about.
Game 3 it’s another mostly tight game but he is able to spot remove every lord and I can never get ahead on tempo. He ends up getting out a Jitte and True-Name.

5-2

I am glad to play against Delver decks, but UR is probably my least favorite to play against because of the efficiency of their removal and their potential to outrace you with their velocity.

Round 8: UWR Stoneforge

I was excited to finally have a heavily favored matchup after playing against the only delver deck I really don’t want to play against.

G1 is just a beating in my favor.
G2 I play poorly, largely due to overconfidence. He gets a Clique with Karakas out into my empty board aside from a Chalice on 1 after his Supreme Verdict. My hand is 2 Phantasmal Images and a Clique of my own. I Phantasmal his Clique and see he has STP and REB. I let him keep them, which is fine, except of course I forget he can still cast them into my Chalice and still kill my Phantasmal Image. Which is still fine but for whatever reason I play the second Image rather than my own Clique, thinking that he could REB to counter it (getting lost in my own train of thought about how STP had killed the first one). Regardless, I get to Clique away a Vial I’d drawn and then spawn Merfolk from a Cavern of Souls to continue to easily close out the game.

6-2

I play a little loose and arrogant but there isn’t much to be said about this matchup. I’ve lost to it when they bring in Timely Reinforcements and land equipment. That’s about it.

Round 9: Sneak & Tell

G1 I make a pretty bad play when I misread his deck. He Island passes. I turn 1 Aether Vial and he Spell Pierces. I think he’s Miracles (Spell Pierces are obviously not a giveaway) and decide to FoW back to resolve the Vial. I then don’t have a FoW for his S&T off a Sol Land, he puts in Sneak Attack and does the ol’ swing for 22 off of Lotus Petals.
G2 I mulligan away the 7 that is bad against S&T but stick with a 6 that’s about the same. He turn 3 S&T into my board of Vial at 2, 3 lands, and Silvergill. I don’t have Force but have a Phantasmal Image in Hand. I put in a Lord he puts in Griselbrand, I end step put in a Griselbrand. Our Griselbrands trade on my attack and I draw 14 to get a Force of Will. I beat him down the next turn or so.
G3 I mulligan away a weak 7 into a mediocre 6. He buys time by REB’ing a Lord. I could FoW but opt not to. He Show & Tells with Force backup in a Sneak Attack that he can activate the same turn, and just swings with an Emrakul to wipe my board and then reveals another in hand and I concede. I likely would’ve killed him had I protected that first Lord since he needed the time.

6-3

I didn’t make good choices with my Force of Wills and couldn’t get sideboard cards to help me out.

It seemed likely 6-3 would be good enough for day 2.

DAY 2

Round 10: Miracles - Theodore Jung

G1 I’m excited to finally play versus Miracles. I get to overextend with 2 Vendillion Clique in hand and a Cavern on Wizard.

G2 I’m an idiot. I resolved 3 chalices on 1 this game while he has a top in play. He dealt with Chalices via Engineered Explosives, Disenchant, Councilor’s Judgment, and had the time to then use his 1 CMC spells. He then gets to start 2 for 1’ing me with snapcaster mage and shuffles away his Top. I pretty much know he must have another but for whatever reason deploy a Pithing Needle on Jace rather than SDT. Then when I get to attack with 2 creatures he gets to instant-speed terminus. It’s still a tight game until he Entreats for 3 Angels and Snapcasters keep me from winning the ground race without lords.
G3 I just lose to Snapcaster brutality again. He continues to draw a perfect number of sideboard cards to answer my Chalices. I have to slightly overextend because of problematic Snapcaster Mages. I get to kill his Jace but my TNN can’t outrace the Angels he deploys. This game I didn’t have a shot at winning.

6-4

Really blew game 2 with the Pithing Needle brainfart, but so it goes. The matchup wasn’t so lopsided since he was on a 3 Snapcaster Mage list and resolved 3 in games 2 and 3.

Round 11: Infect

G1 he turn 1 Glistener Elf and I FoW. He durdles trying to get another threat but I can easily beat him down.
G2 I die to two exalted infect attacks and a Become Immense with a Chalice on 1.
G3 I get to gut shot his first threat and get a Chalice on 1. He gets out a Blighted Agent and soon fetches for no real good reason and I Submerge it. I get to play a Chalice on 2 and he never gets an Inkmoth.

7-4

Not much to say here. Gut shots, submerges, and chalices help out a bit here.

Round 12: Elves

G1 I’m on the play, turn 2 chalice and wait to deploy wasteland until it’s necessary to keep him off mana for Green Sun’s Zenith into Reclamation Sage.
G2 He’s on the play and I can’t keep up.
G3 I’m on the play, FOW his turn 1 play and turn 2 Chalice, turn 3 tnn, turn 4 jitte & equip locks him out.

8-4

Turn 2 chalice on the draw hardly does anything, so let’s just win die rolls.

Round 13: RUG Delver

G1 I can’t remember the specifics, but because of Wastelands and dazes, his t1 and t2 delvers that flip on t3 still can’t outrace my vialed out board.
G2 he does mulligan to 5 or 6 and can only t1 and t2 cantrip. My t2 I play a silvergill so that t3 I can wasteland & chalice with daze backup while still having a threat in play. He wastes me off of Cavern of Souls and eventually dismembers my silvergill. We have to play draw-go for a while until I have double blue to play lords and eventually win.

9-4

Ah, the old chalice delver lock.

Round 14: Storm - Caleb Scherer

I recognize the player and know he’s on storm.
G1 opening hand is one I would keep against anyone. He gets to turn 1 duress away my Chalice. He can’t go off by turn 3 through a Cursecatcher, my Silvergill helped me get to a second Chalice which locks him out of the game.
G2 he gets to go off turn 2 through FoW.
G3 he gets rid of my Chalice again, but I turn 1 Cursecatcher and Phantasmal Image another one, slowing him down and I get to another Chalice. He is close to going off with 2 CMC spells but Cursecatchers would’ve stopped it.

10-4

Most people might not realize the real work Chalice does here is keeps them from casting Duress or

Cabal Therapy so that you can always FoW. Cursecatcher buys time for Chalice of the Void which buys time for FoW. Those former two cards are probably the best cards to have in your opener, and then hope to draw into FoW.

Round 15: Omni-Tell - Rudy Briksza

I know he’s on Omni Tell, I get a hand with Force which is okay. The only interesting play is his turn 2 he Brainstorms into my Cursecatcher without playing a second land. I decide to make the trade but really shouldn’t have, as I’m sure that’s what he wanted and it meant turn 4 he could S&T with Flusterstorm backup.
G2 I mulligan to a 6 without Force of Will. He forces my Aether Vial and goes for it on turn 2 where I still have nothing.

10-5

It’s tough to just lose to the Omni Tell draws that come together without the help of sideboard cards.

Could’ve maybe mulliganned more aggressively, and the game 1 play should’ve been better (though he still would’ve won just a turn later). But it was just a beating. I was done with the round in six minutes.

Top 64 ended up being 9-5-1 or better and top 32 10-4-1.

The 75 felt super tight. I ended up being less happy with gut-shot as the prevalence of URx delver decks means you sometimes can’t afford the 2 life. Would really like to fit in an Arcane Laboratory as multi-purpose card that hits Omni Tell.

Overall the field didn't feel too soft. I also think I wasn't particularly lucky, but I wasn't particularly unlucky: I was able to play Magic almost every game. So I don't think I was just on the winning side of variance (not that a 10-5 finish is all that impressive). Merfolk seems to be in a really good place going forward with the right 75.