Relax, Everything's Under Control (1st at FNM)!

Modern Burn Competitive Control RUW (Jeskai, America)

Player3.14

Instant (21)

• 2x Cryptic Command
• 2x Electrolyze
• 4x Lightning Bolt
• 4x Lightning Helix
• 3x Mana Leak
• 4x Path to Exile
• 2x Sphinx's Revelation

Sorcery (3)

• 3x Supreme Verdict

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Detention Sphere

Artifact (1)

• 1x Batterskull

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Narset Transcendent

Creature (6)

• 3x Geist of Saint Traft
• 2x Restoration Angel
• 1x Vendilion Clique

Land (25)

• 3x Celestial Colonnade
• 2x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 3x Flooded Strand
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 2x Hallowed Fountain
• 2x Island
• 1x Mountain
• 2x Plains
• 2x Sacred Foundry
• 2x Steam Vents
• 3x Sulfur Falls

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Sideboard

Instant (3)

• 1x Celestial Purge
• 2x Counterflux

Sorcery (3)

• 2x Anger of the Gods
• 1x Supreme Verdict

Enchantment (4)

• 3x Leyline of Sanctity
• 1x Stony Silence

Artifact (4)

• 2x Engineered Explosives
• 2x Pithing Needle

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Wrath of God

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This is my modern competative jeskai control list. Suggestions are welcome, but keep in mind that my per-card budget tops out at around $15-20 per card at most. Thanks!

Here's a breakdown of what's in the deck:

Maindeck

Control Spells and Card Advantage

Lightning Bolt: Arguably red's best card in modern, Lightning Bolt is a flexible and powerful removal spell. Almost all modern red decks run a playset.

Lightning Helix: This card is as flexible and as useful as Lightning Bolt, but it has a lifegain effect, which comes in handy against aggro. I have a burn - heavy meta.

Mana Leak: Counterspells will stop almost anything and are a staple of most control decks. Mana leak is excellent early on but quickly becomes useless as players accumulate excess lands.

Counterflux is a counterspell that does not become useless in the late game. Its uncouterable nature lets me win counterspell wars, and its overload is excellent against Storm.

Electrolyze kills stray Lingering Souls or wienies and replaces itself. Not bad.

Detention Sphere knocks out token hordes, artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, and can function as simple creature removal as well. It is vulnerable to Abrupt Decay, which can be a problem in certain matchups, like G/B/x and Sultai delver. That's when they get sideboarded out.

Cryptic Command is a staple of modern control decks due to its incredible flexibility. Counter-draw is just raw card advantage, but it can be used as an incredible tempo play with the tap and bounce abilities.

Supreme Verdict, Anger of the Gods: Boardwipes are very powerful and can provide immense card advantage. Since I do let more stuff resolve than most control decks, sometimes opponents accumulate several creatures on their side of the board. Boardwipes deal with that, and are excellent against creature-based aggro.

Sphinx's Revelation refils my hand after a long, attritiony game. The lifegain is also important.

Narset Transcendent's +1 keeps my hand full and the -2 ability is incredibly useful and allows for the reuse of a spell - which, of course, is card advantage. This is my most unconventional choice here, but she keeps winning me games. Her ultimate is suprisingly easy to get to, and I will often get it off multiple times per FNM - which is basicly and automatic win.

Win Conditions

Geist of Saint Traft is very powerful and can close the game in a few turns, especailly when backed up by burn spells.

Restoration Angel is useful mainly because it is an efficiently costed creature with flash. It can be used as a removal spell to 'ambush' attackers, and I can do an end of turn flash in against decks like Twin when I want to keep mana open for counterspells.

Batterskull is virtually impossible to get rid of and can provide some strong lifegain. It can equip onto Geist or Resto, for more attacking power.

Keranos, God of Storms is difficult to remove, and kills the opponent under a storm of psudo-Lightning Bolts and card advantage.

Celestial Colonnade is handy because it only takes up a land slot and can hit hard. It is, however, vulnerable to much instant-speed removal as well as land destruction.

Sideboard

Engineered Explosives is one of my most versatile sidboard cards. If I need extra artifact/enchantment removal, this is my go-to card, and it's great for taking out creature hordes. Pre-engineering it for 3 gives me a layer of defence against Blood Moon. This card excells against Jund/Abzan midrange and Affinity.

Pithing Needle disrupts combos. It is especailly useful against Tron, Twin, and manlands.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion absolutely destroys opposing midrange decks. In addition to acting as a wincon, she's a board wipe and a staller. Lots of soldier tokens are great for chump blocking. This card is best against Collected Company and G/B/X midrange.

Leyline of Sanctity is useful against a myriad of targeted effects. It'll stop both burn and targeted discard, the latter of which is devastating when used in copious quantities against control. This card is very versatile but shines the most against Burn, Scapeshift, and Lantern Control

Celestial Purge is often run in Jeskai sideboards because of its unique ability to blast away two cards Jeskai has a hard time dealing with: Blood Moon and Liliana of the Veil. In a pinch, it can also exile other problematic permenants in the same colors (like Tasigar, the Golden Fang and Splinter Twin.

Stony Silence: Dedicated affinity hate card of choice. Also brutally effective agianst the occasional Lantern Control deck.

Supreme Verdict: Good agaisnt decks with creatures. That means everything from Jund to Collected Company to Zoo and Affinity. The can't be countered clause makes sure I can wipe the board against blue creature decks like Grixis Midrange and Merfolk.

Counterflux is a rare uncounterable counter and is thus very useful against noncreature combo decks. I'll also bring this in to have the final say on a key threat against a control deck.

Anger of the Gods fuffills a similar role to Verdict, but comes down a turn earlier, something usefull against faster decks. The exile clause is incredibly important agaisnt Kitchen Finks and voice of resurgance. Anger is my best sideboard card against Collected Company and Zoo.

Positive suggestions, comments, and of course +1s welcome!

Date added	9 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 1 Mythic Rares 32 - 13 Rares 7 - 1 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.66
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Narset Transcendent, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	Modern, (B) Other Players' Modern Decks, 5. Inspirations, Modern Ideas, Decks I like., modern, modern, Favorite Decks, Interesting, Deck Ideas