Spirit of the Labyrinth in Lantern Control
Modern forum
Posted on Oct. 17, 2016, 11:17 p.m. by legendofa
I've never seen a Lantern Control list that includes Spirit of the Labyrinth. Why is that? I just got into the strategy, so I'm still learning about it, but it seems to me that stopping extra draws helps keep the lock in place. Blue and black have a wide selection of draw, and red and green are catching up, especially when paired with blue. Extra draws can bypass the top deck lock. Sure, they still get a dead card, but they get a dead card plus a probably not dead card. Spirit of the Labyrinth stops that. Anyway, that's my thinking. Is there something wrong with my logic, or is this extra layer not worth the card slots?
As a lantern control player, I hate a spell that makes Pyroclasm worse. I supposed it could be a good one of, but I like Eidolon of Rhetoric much better. It could be good with Infernal Tutor, but since it only matters once you are winning, its just a target for useless removal.
October 18, 2016 3:12 p.m.
alulien and BoardFire So, its low defense and vulnerability to a wide variety of removal means it's not going to stick around that much, and it doesn't support the artifact line, but it might work as a one-of. I'll give it a shot and report back. Thanks for the input!
October 18, 2016 3:28 p.m.
Once you top-lock someone, they shouldn't be drawing card draw spells. Yes they might have some in hand, but they have to run out of gas sooner or later. Something like jeskai or Grixis control might be able to chain ancestral vision and ignore the lock, but those decks can also easily remove spirit/eidelon. Basically: a creature that stops card draw in a bass ackwards way makes the dead cards in your opponent's hand become useful, effectively "drawing" them a few cards.
alulien says... #2
As an example, one of the most common draw cards in Modern: Dark Confidant doesn't say anything about drawing, so Spirit misses completely there. As a Jund player, seeing Spirit would mean my game 1 is better against you (assuming you main) because my removal (Terminate, Dreadbore, Slaughter Pact) doesn't whiff as hard. It also detracts from the artifact theme of powering Mox Opal to help dump your hand for the Ensnaring Bridge lock.
It's cool once the lock is down because it can help keep it in place, so I wonder if there's a way to make a 1-of relevant...?
October 18, 2016 2:30 a.m. Edited.