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This deck is all about controlling the field as well as the hand. You begin by protecting your assets and then start working at depleting your opponent of options. Most of the spells in the deck are about removing your opponents spells until they run out of things to play. This deck is great at dealing with very specific threats. This is not a creature heavy deck, instead you protect the few creatures you have and smash your opponent for massive damage. Otherwise, you can deal damage over time with small creatures, or else deplete your opponent's library with Jace.

Snapcaster Mage - Great for replaying spells from your graveyard. This works well with cards like Consider. This creature can also act as a blocker if need be. There is a playset of them in this deck so you shouldn't feel too bad about sacrificing one in combat.

Thing in the Ice   - Good blocker in the early game. Becomes a can bounce the entire board later on and can act as a finisher all on it's own. Combos well with Snapcaster Mage, Narset, Parter of Veils, and Day's Undoing.

Brazen Borrower - Acts as an instant spell and as a creature. The early instant speed bounce coupled with a creature with flash, makes this card very versatile. Two mana to bounce a nonland permanent, three mana to play a creature at the end of your opponents turn, or five mana for both. The extra creature support makes it easier to damage your opponent (three flying damage every turn).

Narset, Parter of Veils - Makes it difficult for your opponent to keep up with your card draw. Is especially nice when paired with Day's Undoing. You will draw a whole new hand while your opponent will only be able to draw one card. Narset's activated ability is great for possibly searching up a Day's Undoing or a good counter spell.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Extremely useful and highly versatile. Jace's first two abilities are great for setting yourself up with a good hand while putting unnecessary cards back on top of your library. Jace, has the ability to protect himself with a built-in creature bouncer, it is entirely possible to bounce one of your own Snapcaster Mage or Brazen Borrower back to your hand. His last ability is essentially a game winner. Not much can be done once his ultimate has resolved.

Consider - Allows you to dig farther into your deck for the cards you need. The downside of putting a spell into the graveyard is neutralized when you got Snapcaster Mage in your hand.

Counterspell - Cheap counter. Allows you to stabilize early on. This card is great all game long and never loses it's potency.

Force of Negation - great counterspell for both the early and late game. The fact that it exiles the targeted spell afterwards is a nice feature (removes any possibility of your opponent reusing the spell). This card is strong at breaking combos, winning counterspell battles, and protecting your creatures from killspells even when you’re tapped out of mana (Tappedout! Sorry, had to).

Archmage's Charm - Amazing versatile spell. Having the options to counter a spell or draw cards at instant speed allows you to act depending on how your opponent plays the game. If they play nothing on their turn, then you can chance using this spell to draw more cards and "out card" your opponent. The the third ability is situational but it acts as a deterrent against modern staples (such as Aether Vial, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Dragon's Rage Channeler).

Day's Undoing - A nice reset card. Helps if you are running low on cards or if you want to save your graveyard. Also keeps your opponent from using graveyard combos. Pairs nicely with Narset, Parter of Veils.

Sea Gate Restoration   - A great versatile spell that can also act as a land. The extra option to lightning bolt yourself for an untapped land is pleasing especially if you are hurting for mana. The spell side to this card is somewhat situational. Usually you would only cast it as a spell if the game is going long and you need the extra cards to continue.

Hall of Storm Giants - This land is this deck's win condition. A heavy 7/7 creature with ward is no easy problem for your opponent to deal with, especially because this will be attacking during the late game when your opponent has fewer resources. This can also double as an excellent blocker if you are on the defensive. Because this land only becomes a creature for a turn and when it does it has ward 3, it becomes more difficult for your opponent to have suitable answers against such a threat.

Otawara, Soaring City - This land doubles as a spell in many regards. However, this card benefits from not being a spell (meaning it cannot be easily countered). This can act as a bounce spell for practically anything. Additionally, this card can bounce your own creatures and planeswalkers so that you may reuse their abilities.

Blast Zone - This land is an answer to pesky creatures that your opponent amasses. It is also useful against a handful of artifacts. The reason this land is important is that it is a permanent answer to a problem rather then simply acting as a bounce spell.

Gemstone Caverns - This land helps if you are up against an aggro deck. The fact that it helps you ramp on turn one means you can possibly have a Counterspell ready on your first turn. Obviously this only works if you are going second, but often being on the draw can be more beneficial for control decks anyway.

Riptide Laboratory - This land is perfect to reuse Snapcaster Mage's ability over and over again. in some cases, you can even flash Snapcaster Mage in, block, then use this land to bounce it back to your hand before the damage step (and you can cast a spell from your graveyard if you got any mana left over).

  • Turn 1: Play Consider. This card makes it easier to find the necessary spells to help you stabilize early in the game.
  • Turn 2: Play Thing in the Ice   or leave mana open for a Counterspell or Petty Theft on Brazen Borrower.
  • Turn 3: You now should have enough mana to play more powerful spells such as Narset, Parter of Veils or Archmage's Charm.
  • Turn 4: You now should have enough mana/setup to play more freely. You can now play a Day's Undoing to draw a new hand while you opponent's hand is reduced to one card. You can play Jace, the Mind Sculptor if he happens to be in your hand. You Should also have enough mana to flashback a Counterspell with Snapcaster Mage.
  • Turn 5 - 6: You can play multiple spells with greater ease. Play bounce spells and counter spells on the same turn. You can play Petty Theft and also cast Brazen Borrower from exile on the same turn. More then likely you will be able to transform Thing in the Ice   by this point.
  • Turn 7: You can play Sea Gate Restoration   and activate Hall of Storm Giants. Once you can get Hall of Storm Giants working, you can begin to hit your opponent hard.
  • Beyond turn 7: If the game goes longer, it means you are doing well. The longer the game goes, the greater the advantage you have. If you begin to deplete your deck of spells, simply play a Day's Undoing to restock your deck.

If it turns out that you have a bad hand or you are running out of cards, playing Day's Undoing even without Narset can still prove hugely beneficial.

All the while, you always have the option to cast Force of Negation at any point in time on your opponent’s turn. Whether it be turn one or turn ten, you will always have the option to cast this counterspell. Even before you take your first turn, you are able to cast this highly effective Spell.

This deck gets stronger the longer the game progresses. Once you amass a large amount of mana and your hand is full of spells, it will be difficult to break through your defenses.

Narset, Parter of Veils + Day's Undoing = draw a new hand of seven cards while your opponent draws one.

Narset, Parter of Veils + Day's Undoing + Thing in the Ice   with one ice counter left = transform into Awoken Horror and bounce the board, then do the above combo. Thus you shuffle your opponent's board back into their deck and leave them with one card in hand.

Thing in the Ice   with one ice counter left + Snapcaster Mage = cast a spell from your graveyard which in turn will transform Thing in the Ice  , thus bouncing Snapcaster Mage back to your hand to be used again.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor + Day's Undoing = make your opponent shuffle their entire graveyard back into their library, next turn exile most of their library with his ultimate ability.

Snapcaster Mage + Riptide Laboratory = recursive flashback of spells from your graveyard.

In the works...looking for assistance.

From casual play to Modern tournaments, I have gained insight into which cards are effective and which need to be swapped out.

Modern has changed quite a bit over the years. People don't play as many go wide decks based on the fact that so many other people play combo decks and pack them full of board wipes. However, there is one particular reason why I have had to make drastic changes to the deck. It is because everyone is playing creatures with ETB abilities. This makes bounce spells worse then useless. Perhaps you remove an attacker from the field, but now your opponent gets to replay whatever you just bounced and get a second trigger off of the creature effect.

For this reason I have had to remove certain cards from the deck. I used to run cards such as Cyclonic Rift, Cryptic Command, and Thing in the Ice  .

The mass bounce effect of Cyclonic Rift just isn't worth it anymore. turn 7 does not come as often as I would like, and by that time, either your opponent only has one or two efficient attackers and/or all their creatures have ETB abilities which makes this spell feel ugly.

The versatility of Cryptic Command just isn't worth four mana anymore. For one, you might as well treat this spell to only have three options instead of four. Tapping all your opponents creatures does not happen often enough to be worth it. Again, this is because your opponent will usually only have one or two efficient creatures and you would rather bounce the creature instead and force them to use mana to recast it. the other options (counter and card draw) are pretty much the same as Archmage's Charm, which is arguable more efficient (especially because it cost less mana).

Thing in the Ice   lasted awhile in this deck. However what killed it was the setup required to get the creature to reach its full potential. This card still has many pros however. you can cast it early. It can transform simply by casting other spells. It bounces the entire field (so if on the off chance you are up against a deck that is going wide, you have a solution to that problem). The stats for this card make it a prime candidate to protect your life in the early game. It also cannot die to burn spells like Lightning Bolt. Finally it acts as a finisher in the late game. The downsides to this card is that it is a "do nothing" card on its own. It has no ETB abilities. It cannot interact with your opponents threats (other then blocking). Late game, drawing this card does not feel good. The setup required for this card, although not difficult, requires time and resources (and especially does not feel good if your opponent uses a kill spell after you invested all your mana, spells, and energy into getting Thing in the Ice   to transform). This card has been replaced with Hall of Storm Giants. A card that is much harder to interact with.

UPDATE: I have decided to add Thing in the Ice   back into the deck. The deck was suffering by having few early cheap creatures to combat enemies. Thing in the Ice   offers a good block and can become a finisher later on. It may die to a kill spell, but I have four in the deck, and there are other ways to win as well. Having Thing in the Ice   also forces your opponent to focus more on the board. They need to find a solution to the problem of Awoken Horror at some point. This also offers a nice way to misdirect them away from your other win cons such as Narset, Parter of Veils, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and Hall of the Storm Giants. Having several is fine because even if they are worse in multiples, you can offer them as a sacrifice to Force of Negation.

I am happy to receive suggestions of cards and/or other control combos. I am looking to make this deck more effective while also keeping the theme of the deck.

Looking for good Sideboard suggestions. I have a huge maybeboard section, but I'm not sure what will be the most useful and versatile. Any suggestions on cards that can help deal with aggro, burn, or any other type of deck that has an advantage against control would be great.

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Date added 5 years
Last updated 1 year
Legality

This deck is Modern legal.

Rarity (main - side)

12 - 4 Mythic Rares

27 - 2 Rares

8 - 4 Uncommons

4 - 0 Commons

Cards 60
Avg. CMC 2.92
Tokens On an Adventure
Folders Modern Format Decks
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