I consider this deck to be a classic U/W control- keeping my opponent's board clean and cast my big creatures to end the late game.
For background, this deck was my first intro to the Modern Magic: The Gathering format. I built it entirely of cards I had in my original collection, and each update below shows times when I either searched my collection for more cards, shopped at local stores, or traded online or with friends in order to make my build more competitive.
Cards I'm still looking for the main deck:
Cryptic Command- Cryptic Command is a must-have for any U/W control, and I'm planning on eventually running 3 of them. For now though, Disallow is my hard counter in this deck.
Path to Exile- I USED to have a playset, but one of the cards was borrowed just so I could playtest the deck. So now I need to trade for/buy a new one to complete that playset.
Faerie Conclave- Is useful since most removal can't target lands, but it will eventually be replaced with Celestial Colonnade (once I have a larger budget).
And a new mana Base! Including 1 more Hallowed Fountain, 3 more Flooded Strand, 1 Mystic Gate, and the above mentioned 4 Celestial Colonnade
Explanation Of Main Deck Choices
Remand over Mana Leak- I find the card draw from Remand to be much better than the early-game counters that Mana Leak gives.
Field of Ruin over Ghost Quarter- While using Ghost Quarter allows me to remove pesky lands even while tapped out, Field of Ruin helps thin my deck and also makes sure I don't fall behind my opponent on lands.
Torrential Gearhulk over Snapcaster Mage- Two reasons. One, I believe the best target for Snapcaster Mage is Cryptic Command, so for 6 cmc you get a 2/1 and a Cryptic Command While with Torrential Gearhulk you get a 5/6 and a Cryptic Command. The second reason is that I already owned 2 copies of Torrential Gearhulk, which is also about $60 cheaper than Snapcaster Mage.
Explanation Of The Sideboard:
Blessed Alliance- Bring in against Burn or Aggro decks, and against Death's Shadow decks to make them gain life and shrink their shadows.
Celestial Purge- Bring in against mono-red decks, mono-black decks, red-black decks, but mostly used against Grixis Death's Shadow and other popular Grixis decks in modern.
Ceremonious Rejection- Bring in against Tron, Affinity, Robots, Eldrazi, or any other artifact/colorless deck I come across.
Damping Sphere- Bring in against Storm, Tron, or Combo.
Disdainful Stroke- Bring in against Eldrazi, the mirror match, Grixis Death's Shadow and any other deck that uses high-costing spells.
Dispel- Bring in against Storm, Combo, Burn, or the mirror match (Maybe).
Rest in Peace- Bring in against Dredge, Grixis Delver, Grixis Death's Shadow and any other graveyard deck.
Stony Silence- Bring in against Affinity, Robots, and any other deck based on artifacts. Also bring in against Eldrazi Tron’s Chalice of the Void.
Timely Reinforcements- Bring in against Burn, Dredge, and any aggro strategies that leave me at a suboptimal life total.
-The MaybeBoard:-
Settle the Wreckage- I'm uncertain about this card in general... It seems like a good way to surprise an opponent, but the amount of ramp I give them seems fairly significant. All in all, it looks like a Path to Exile in boardwipe form.
Snapcaster Mage- I would add... But Snapcaster Mage is stupidly expensive, and I'll have recursion through Torrential Gearhulk anyways so, up to the jury, I guess.
Secure the Wastes- This card looks awesome- especially as an instant. I would definitely add to my deck somehow, either through sideboard or main decking it, I just don't own it yet and I'm not sure what I would swap out.
Thank you!
