Casual Friday: Budget Lantern Control

Table of Contents:

Why I Created This Deck

Decklist (With Link to TappedOut)

Card Choices and Uses

Deck Strategy

Upgrading/Changing the Deck

Match Results

Intro:

When I first was starting to learn how to play Magic, my teacher asked what type of deck I wanted to play, I did some research, and when I came back, I told him I wanted to play a control deck. With the cards he had, and the way control decks were presented to me, I imagined decks that could absolutely deny the opponent from doing what they wanted. I imagined counter spell wars, and absolute denial of the enemy's game plan. My original deck (a 250+ card, Esper Control deck) did just that, but only against other beginners.

Eventually I got into Modern (I dislike Standard, and Legacy doesn't have enough deck innovation for me), and on May 27, 2014, Gathering Magic posted a Youtube video about a deck called Pixy Stix. Pixy Sticks was a black deck that appeared to be a mish-mash of discard spells, some of the worst mill artifacts, unheard of cards, and one of my favorite cards I have ever encountered: Ensnaring Bridge. The goal of the deck was to choose what the opponent got to draw, thus neutralizing the player's game plan. The deck was brilliant, exactly what I was looking for in a control deck, and not at all viable in a competitive Modern format. The main problem of the deck was that if you didn't have Ensnaring Bridge, you would absolutely lose the game. And the card used to get your control pieces, Infernal Tutor, would be neutralized if you had multiple copies of it in your hand. I tested the deck extensively on Cockatrice, and though it was a great deck my favorite deck, it was not a deck I would ever invest in. Now, a little over a year later, a similar deck just won a Grand Prix. 

Lantern Control is currently shaking up Modern, and for a competitive Modern deck, it a good price, sitting at around $400 for an online version, and $600 for a paper version, which is roughly the same price range as format staples like Affinity. However, for a college student who is preparing to move half-way across the country, I couldn't justify spending that much money all at once. So while I build my deck slowly,  I decided I wanted to play a casual version, one that I could play around a kitchen table with my friends. Only problem is, such a deck does not exist. At least, not one that is truly budget. So, I made my own. It cost me $35 to make, including shipping. I hope you have fun with it (and your "friends" don't).

Decklist:

(Link to TappedOut http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/10-10-15-budget-lantern-control/)

Control Pieces:

4 Codex Shredder

4 Ghoulcaller's Bell

3 Pyxis of Pandemonium

4 Lantern of Insight

Assemblers:

4 Trinket Mage

4 Artificer's Intuition

2 Brainstorm

Stayin' Alive:

4 Fog Bank

2 Psychic Membrane

2 Wall of Frost

2 Elixir of Immortality

3 Sun Droplet

Utility:

2 Trading Post

Mana Base:

4 Buried Ruin

1 Skyline Cascade

2 Halimar Depths

2 Ghost Quarter

1 Phyrexia's Core

10 Island

Let's go over each card.

Card Uses:

Lantern of Insight: arguably the most important card in the deck. Without this card, you are randomly milling what card is on the top of their deck, and you might as well just switch to a Black Discard deck. The card has an added benefit of letting you see the top of your deck as well, meaning you can also mill away lands, and other useless cards. In this deck, almost every card has a secondary function. Do NOT forget about Lantern's secondary ability. Being able to shuffle a library can save you the game in an emergency, or if you have multiple copies of the card, can give you a different draw.

Codex Shredder: What used to be my favorite mill card in the deck, Codex Shredder is the only mill artifact that doesn't target every player on the field. Which translates to your opponent running out of a library before you. The secondary ability is great if you ever want a card back, and can even create an "infinite" combo with Buried Ruin, to do absolutely nothing!

Ghoulcaller's Bell: My new favorite mill card, ever since I saw people play the Modern version of this deck. Most of the time you can mill away good cards your opponent has, and cards that are not needed. Or cards that can be brought back with Buried Ruin. 

Pyxis of Pandemonium: The lesser of the mill artifacts in this deck, which is why I only run three. The exile ability is a double edged sword. On one hand, it gets rid of things like the three Eldrazi titans, but whatever you mill away can't be retrieved with Buried Ruin. I don't think I have ever used the second ability, which lets all players put the exiled permanent cards back onto the battlefield, but I suppose there might be a corner case when it happens. I'll make sure to update this blog if it happens to me.

Trinket Mage: This 2/2 creature can grab any of your artifacts except Trading Post. After you use him to fetch something for you, he can also be used as an extra blocker. If you are able to control the game fast enough, it is possible you use him as an alternate win condition.

Artificer's Intuition: Great for repeat fetching of most of your artifacts. The only problem is you have to discard an artifact card to search for one. The fact that this is an enchantment makes it very hard to remove, as most casual decks run 0-2 enchantment removal main deck, and most don't have a sideboard. If you decide to remake this deck, consider going down to 3, as you won't need more than one.

Brainstorm: It's much cheaper to buy than Serum Visions, and is a more powerful card. Brainstorm lets you draw needed pieces early game, and late game, you can put extra copies of Artificer's Intuition back on the top of your deck, so you can Ghoulcaller's Bell them away. If you build this deck, throw in an extra Brainstorm if you can, to replace the one Artificer's Intuition you should be getting rid of.

Fog Bank: Two mana for one of the greatest blockers of all time?! Well, at least in a causal format. In a non-burn heavy environment. Anyway, this little guy can block flying creatures, and not die from combat damage, which is fantastic. He is essentially going to work as your Ensnaring Bridge. 

Psychic Membrane: Three toughness isn't great for a wall (which is why there are only two copies of this card), but the fact that you draw a card every time you block can get you massive card advantage. In my meta, this card can block most creatures until turn 4 or so, without dying. The people you are playing may just not attack you, so they don't have to give you a free card.

Wall of Frost: This card is pretty cool (see what I did there?). By stopping creatures from untapping, it is essentially blocking an extra creature every turn. And with seven (!) toughness, only a kill spell or GIANT creature will get rid of this. If you want more survivability, and less card advantage, cut down on the Psychic Membranes, so you can have more Wall of Frosts.

Elixir of Immortality: Three mana for 5 life is not horrible. And it prevents you from milling yourself out, and can make you win against mill decks. Just make sure that you crack your Codex Shredder or Buried Ruin first if you plan on retrieving something from your graveyard.

Sun Droplet: A single copy lets you set a lock on your life total. Multiple copies will give you back in life twice the amount of damage you take. Though the card is slow, remember that you gain a life at the beginning of EACH upkeep. Sun Droplet makes this deck semi viable in a multiplayer match.

Trading Post: Absolutely not necessary in the deck, but I figured I would give myself some options. If you want a different card, go for it. But Trading Post gives you life, extra blockers, returns artifacts to your hand (thus you can mix it into your Codex Shredder/Buried Ruin useless combo to make it more complicated), and lets you draw a card. 

Buried Ruin: The poor man's Academy Ruins, but it serves its purpose. I've talked about it throughout the article enough to not go into it too much. Use it to bring back artifacts you want.

Skyline Cascade: Use to slow down your opponent. Can be taken out of the deck if you have a preferred utility land.

Halimar Depths: Got a great opening hand, except for one missing piece like Lantern of Insight? Halimar Depths is the answer to getting the card you want. Like none of the cards, or only one? Stack the cards so that you drop a mill artifact on turn 2, can can mill those cards away.

Ghost Quarter: Sometimes there are cards on the battlefield that you don't like. Ghost Quarter fixes that issue.

Phyrexia's Core: In emergency situations, you need extra life. Be careful about how many artifacts you sacrifice, most of them are pretty useful.

Islands: How else do you expect to get blue mana on a budget? You may be wondering why I am only running 10 Islands, and 20 lands overall. Firstly, I want to point out that the Modern Decklist has even less then us at 18. Secondly, our average mana cost is 1.82. You don't need a ton of mana. Third, we actually have more colorless cards in the deck than we do cards that require blue mana, which gives us a lot of flexibility to use colorless lands.

Strategy: 

The competitive version of Lantern Control is one of the hardest decks to pilot. Shortly before its Grand Prix win, MTGGoldfish said the deck had something like a 30% win success rate. And it isn't the deck that is bad. The deck is just very intricate, and you need to know virtually everything about the metagame to play it. I like to think my version of the deck is much simpler to play, though you certainly won't be bringing this to a tournament.

The strategy is pretty simple: play a Lantern, and mill away cards that can cause you to lose the game Try giving them all lands. Or no lands. Use your creatures to protect you. If you are missing pieces, go fetch them with your various cards. Gain life with your life gain cards (except Phyrexia's Core. That is for emergencies).

Some things to note are:

You don't have to mill them during your turn. You can do it during their untap or upkeep steps. If you want them to draw the top card, mill them at the end of turn. 

If you aren't milling with Codex Shredder, and you really like the top card of your library, feel free to skip a turn of milling, if you don't care what they get.

Just remember: Sun Droplet triggers during EACH upkeep, not just yours.

This deck is horrible in a multiplayer match. Use politics to your advantage, by pairing with the most powerful deck. If you can convince them that you are of little threat, by the time there are only two of you left, hopefully you will be able to win. 

If you get a chance, look through your opponent's deck and take note what cards are their bombs. But do this only if they are okay with it. Otherwise it is kinda cheating. Offer to let them see your deck. They will probably think that it is the worst mill deck in the world, and will be an easy victory. Even after Lantern Control won a GP, people are still saying that it is a stupid deck, and "not real." Use that to your advantage.

Sometimes, it is better to give them a decent card, if you think they may have a great card coming up. Once you have a ton of your mill cards, this isn't as much an issue, but early game, it is.

Use a piece of paper to keep track of what cards they have in their hand. With this version of the deck, you won't be seeing their hand, except for the cards that come off the top of their library. 

Make sure you have fun with this deck. You opponent certainly won't be having a good time, so you might as well be. Take this opportunity to unleash your inner troll. Though, I suppose if you are playing this deck, you already know that.

Changing and Upgrading:

I wanted to keep this list as budget friendly as possible, which is why I didn't go into a second color. However, if you have more of a budget, there are a few cards you may want to try out.

Blue:

Stolen Goods: Its a card that lets you go through the opponent's library until you hit a non-land card. Then you get to play this without paying the mana cost. Let me say, this card goes great in this deck. I was only introduced to it after I had already ordered all my cards, but it could be a great 1-2 of, or you could throw it in your sideboard.

Spy Network: Look at opponent's hand, face down permanents, the top card of your library, and reorder the top four cards of your library. For 1 blue mana. One of the most powerful spy cards ever. 

Telepathy: Look at all other player's hands at all times. For one blue mana. You'll want this if you are playing a multiplayer game, otherwise, good luck keeping track of the cards you let every player keep. 

Tezzeret the Seeker: Without a doubt, the best planeswalker for this deck. He let's you search for your artifacts, lets you untap your mill pieces, and he can serve as an alternate win condition. Right now, you can get him for $8. If you want to spend that on him, he would be a great addition to your deck. 

Jace, Memory Adept: Another FANTASTIC planeswalker for this deck. His +1 not only draws you a card, but also acts as another Codex Shredder. His second ability doesn't take away any loyalty from him, but mills the opponent for 10. That speeds up your win time by a lot. Finally, his ultimate lets anyone you choose draw 20 cards. With that kind of card advantage, your opponents should not be able to win. Jace comes in at around $4. 

Jace, Architect of Thought: While he doesn't directly help you win as much as Tezzeret or the other Jace, this Jace does contribute to keeping you alive. Giving all creatures -1 until the end of turn can leave you practically invincible when combined with Sun Droplet. His -2  ability helps you grab cards, though not as effectively as you might want. But his ultimate ability functions like a better version of Stolen Goods. If you are playing a multiplayer game, and you ultimate, it would go a long way toward you winning. The best part about this Jace? You can get him for about $2.

Teferi, Temporal Archmage: At 6 mana, he costs a bit much for this mana base (you would want to add 2 more lands if you played him), and honestly, he isn't as good as the other planeswalkers mentioned. His +1 ability is just a Sleight of Hand, and if you are dropping him on turn 6, that isn't a great ability. Where he really shines is his negative abilities. His -1 lets you untap 4 permanents, IE your Codex Shredders and Ghoulcaller's Bells, and his ultimate is very useful if you are playing other planeswalkers. And by if you are playing other planeswalkers, I mean "you will be playing other planeswalkers or Teferi will be useless." But did I mention he is only $4?

Black:

There are a few cards in red or white that you could splash for, but splashing black is a great option. Black brings the deck back to its traditional roots: getting rid of your opponent's hand as well as his library. To splash black, you would want to cut all utility lands, except for the Buried Ruins, so you can throw in some Swamps, and maybe 1-2 Evolving Wilds. 

Duress: Always a super budget card, duress gets rid of most of the cards that could hurt your strategy. Unfortunately, it doesn't get rid of cards that hurt you. 

Raven's Crime: Doesn't let you pick what you get rid of, but it is repeatable, and you can get rid of extra lands you don't need. 

Despise: The polar opposite of Duress, Despise gets rid of those pesky creatures and planeswalkers that can kill you.

Funeral Charm: This card does great work. It's one of the few discard spells that you can use on the opponent's draw step. It can kill a creature, or buff yours. And if you happen to be playing against a black deck, you could give one of your Trinket Mages swampwalk. Mainly use it make your enemy discard on their draw step. 

Horrifying Revelation: Opponent has to discard, and then you Codex Shred them for one. Not a bad spell. 

Liliana Vess: Coming in at around $4, Liliana is a powerhouse in the black splash. She makes an opponent discard a card as her + ability. Her - ability lets you search for any card in your library. And her ultimate summons every creature from the graveyard to your control. That is a fantastic win condition, especially for a multiplayer game. 

Colorless:

Witchbane Orb: Hexproof is really good. Consider this an automatic sideboard card. Or put them in instead of your Trading Posts.

Welding Jar: The easiest way of nullifying artifact destruction spells. And you can cast it for free.



Match Results: Coming soon.


Eventually, I'll revisit this deck. I have some ideas for a colorless version, as well as a version that features Worship. I hope you have fun with this deck, and be sure to check back soon, as I start a series of surprisingly effective budget Modern decks. Have a great week!