I tried building a lockdown control deck, but it feels underwhelming.
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 21, 2021, 1:38 p.m. by StopShot
The deck: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/modern-mogis-lockdown/
I wrote how the deck is intended to work in the deck description while also putting down my reasoning for each the card inclusions there.
I read most lockdown-control decks should dedicate very little card slots to the win condition and dedicate everything else to control, which is the principle I used here. Despite this, As I worked on fleshing out my concept for this deck it started to grow underwhelming with time and that it’s power level is mediocre given it has no real way of gaining card advantage to ensure key removal spells aren’t spread too thinly when facing any given deck.
I was going to delete this like I do with most of my deck concepts, but I thought maybe there might be some value in sharing this with others to get feedback. I’ll likely delete the deck as I think it’s fundamentally unworkable at its core, but I’ll keep it around for the duration of this thread’s lifespan.
Oh, and on a further note, I’ve put all my financial investments in the color scheme. Trying to purchase expensive lands and spells outside that color scheme isn’t feasible otherwise I might have considered Keranos, God of Storms instead. Even so, I feel like the deck would still need more ways to accrue card advantage than just that.
@Xianling69, Deck-Large:Modern-Mogis-Lockdown
I tried that, but it’s not working for me. (The double brackets aren’t showing in my comment)
January 21, 2021 1:56 p.m.
Xianling69 says... #4
no offense, but i'd abandon the mogis idea. at best you won't be winning until around turn 14, which is just far too slow. and theres always the chance an opponent hits it with Path to Exile.
January 21, 2021 2:15 p.m.
Xianling69 says... #5
i also find it odd you didn't include Lightning Bolt, and chose Dreadbore over Terminate.
January 21, 2021 2:16 p.m.
wallisface says... #6
From looking through the list, i have the following thoughts:
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typical control decks can attack from many different avenues. Your deck seems very focused on just killing creatures (which is terrible vs non-creature decks). As well as that, a lot of your spells are quite high cmc (3 mana to kill a thing is a lot). I’d suggest some more proactive and lower cmc control, like Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize.
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Divine Gambit and Tibalt's Trickery don’t seem good as your opponent gets to replace whatever you’re stopping
I would recommend the abovementioned hand disruption, but also leaning into more of a typical Young Pyromancer shell - they are a fairly controlly deck for Mardu colours, and have a lot of decent interaction. It would also incentivise you to play with a better (lower) mana curve, and make the likes of Kolaghan's Command available to you, which is a strong card.
January 21, 2021 2:20 p.m. Edited.
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast says... #7
I don't think Mardu are the worst colors for lockdown decks. However, as Xianling69 said, Mogis is way. Too. Slow.
Tibalt's Trickery is bad unless you use it for a cheeky combo of some sort (I'll let you Google how it can be abused but it then requires you to build the whole deck around it).
Divine Gambit is awful aswell. Modern isn't fair. Removing a pesky creature to let your opponent play a bigger threat (Teferi, Emrakul, you name it) for free is just not a deal you want in this format.
Crackling Doom and Soul Shatter are okayish vs decks that play few creatures but again I would rather run Wrath of God or something in the sideboard.
Anger of the Gods and Pyroclasm are good spells vs aggro decks but again, dead cards vs any superfriends or midrange deck. Plus, you already have Patk and Push to get rid of early threats.
All in all you lack wincons. Remove specific removals for mass removals and add in tough-to-answer threats like planeswalkers or built-in protections (Baneslayer Angel or Stormbreath Dragon) or card-advantage creating cards like Seasoned Pyromancer or Glorybringer.
January 21, 2021 3:05 p.m.
TriusMalarky says... #8
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You have 6 tunr-1-castable spells. I recommend at least 8 in slower formats. In Modern, you can easily be running 16 in a higher-cmc list.
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IoK and TS are by far the best reason to be in black, in the top 10 1-mana spells in Modern, and the core of black control.
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You're in Mardu, and you're in control. If you're not running 4x Path 4x Push 4x Bolt you're insane.
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Tibalt's Trickery in Modern is for t1 Emrakul, not a Mana Leak replacement. (see MagicAID's recent vid).
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Declaration in Stone is 100% better than Divine Gambit, and it's still not worth it when Path is $3
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Pyroclasm is a sideboard card. It does almost nothing maindeck. Anger is okay, but if you're running control(in Mardu) Day of Judgment or Wrath of God or Kaya's Wrath is optimal. Run a playset of your preferred 4-mana wrath.
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You don't have a win condition. At all. Mogis, even if you turn him into a creature, wins on t7. That's a couple turns too slow. Seriously, Approach of the Second Sun is better at winning.
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Here's some wincon ideas: Secure the Wastes, Inferno Titan, Grave Titan. Although you're not ramping, they just outvalue everything except Prime Time and, in the case of Inferno, Uro. They win incredibly quickly and can singlehandedly take you from a bad position to a win. Glorybringer is also reasonable. Chandra, ToD is not horrible either.
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Smiting Helix is great spell as well.
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Also, you're in control and don't have much grin capacity. Night's Whisper is sorta necessary.
January 21, 2021 4:24 p.m.
jethstriker says... #10
Just like mentioned above, there is already an existing established Mardu control in Modern that you can use as a reference. You don't have to worry having your investment in Mardu colors going to waste.
Also adding to above points, your win condition is not that fast and efficient. In control, no matter how hard your lock is, if your clock is not that fast, your opponents will somehow find a way break out of your lock.
January 21, 2021 6:24 p.m.
Xianling69 says... #11
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast one thing to note though is that Crackling Doom and Soul Shatter can both remove Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, while the latter can also hit Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Wrath of God hits neither, so they could be useful if his local meta has tron players.
January 21, 2021 11:34 p.m.
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast says... #12
Xianling69 That's assuming his meta is Tron-heavy and as I said these are cards to put in the SB anyways, not in the main list.
However, you're right about the fact these are relevant cards vs big threats. I'd only play Soul Shatter then, since it's more versatile and the CMC is less restrictive.
January 22, 2021 5:06 a.m.
Xianling69 says... #13
WizardOfTheNorthernCoast well yeah i already said the part about if theres tron players in his meta. and the sideboard part was implied.
Xianling69 says... #2
there are better ways to link your deck, as described in the comment tutorial.
Modern Mogis Lockdown
Modern* StopShot
1 VIEW
January 21, 2021 1:43 p.m.