Budget Azorius Control and Midrange Decks in Modern - Copy - Part I and II

Budget Azorius Control and midrange
decks in Modern
Aliquanto / https://twitter.com/YahiAnael
29/08/2020
Introduction
Modern player, looking to play a budget deck and/or interested in joining the Azorius
guild? You are at the right place! This article will show you how to build extra budget decks
in either white or blue, then go up at different scales of prices until reaching complete UW
Control, Miracles, Stoneblade or Midrange shells, while also mentioning other routes the
budget decks presented here can evolve towards. But that is not all! You will also find
sideboard advice and suggestions to tune the budget lists at a similar price to adapt for your
local metagame. Still not convinced? Give it a shot and you will be.
N.B.: prices are given just as an estimation in this document, do not consider them as exact
references. They come from ttps://www.tcgplayer.com/ for prices in $,
h
https://www.cardmarket.com/fr/Magic for prices in €, and https://www.mtgowikiprice.com/ for
prices in tix, either based on the price tendency for single cards, or provided by
https://deckstats.net/ for complete main decks.
Introduction 1
I - Monocolor ultra budget decks 3

A - Mono White Midrange 3
1 - Presentation of the list 3
Oust vs Dismember vs Condemn vs On Thin Ice vs Path to Exile 6
2 - Sideboard tips 8
3 - Optimized lists 12
B - Mono Blue Control 14
3 - Mid budget and optimized lists 21
II - Mid price 2 colors budget decks 23

A - Fechtless UW midrange 23
1 - A mid budget UW midrange list, and how to build an ultra budget one 23
Which wraths should you pick? 26
B - UW control: a fetchland manabase 33
C - Discussing the expensive UW staples 42
Force of Negation 42
Jace, the Mind Sculptor / Teferi, Hero of Dominaria 42
Cryptic Command 43
Teferi, Time Raveler 43
Snapcaster Mage 44
The 3-drop instant speed slots 44
Lyra Dawnbringer 45
Stoneforge Mystic 45
Monastery Mentor 46
Supreme Verdict 46
Priority: HIGH against blue aggressive decks, or once you have Force of Negation,
Medium otherwise, other wraths will do. 46
III - Splashing a third color? 47

A - The easiest: Esper 47
B - The most powerful (right now): Bant 47
C - The forgotten one: Jeskai 47
D - More colors? 47
Conclusion 48
Going further 49
I - Monocolor ultra budget decks
Why start with building decks containing a single color if it is to build toward a two
colors (or more) deck? Well, modern manabases are quite expensive, and they are not just
about color fixing. By staying in a single color, we can save a lot of money on those
manabases. In this article, I will go over two options: MonoW midrange (aiming at building
UW midrange, which can then be turned to UW control or other variants) and MonoU control,
giving you the choice between the color and strategy you want to start with. Let us be
honest, they do not share that many cards in common with the optimal UWx builds, filled
with expensive cards. However, you will find as many of the cheap cards of the
corresponding colors in those budget decks as possible, and their strategies are kept as
close as possible to the original ones with the available budget. With those builds, we can
stay under 50$ for ultra cheap lists, with a lot of possible upgrades on a slightly higher
budget. It is also possible to tune them for a lot of different matchups while remaining in the
same budget range.
A - Mono White Midrange
1 - Presentation of the list
List: https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1737330-ultra-budget-monow-midrange
Make sure to check the link to look at the maybeboard if you want to find some ideas to tune
your list for your metagame.
46$ with TCG, 38€ with MKM, 18 tix according to deckstats.net.
The good news with white cards is that a lot of them are quite powerful and played,
sometimes even being able to completely beat some archetypes on their own, yet very
cheap. So we can easily build a super budget deck that can still be tuned to win a bunch of
matches in FNM, and that does not really require a ton of upgrades to optimize its gameplan.
This list wants to be an ultra budget version of stock UW midrange. The goal is to
play a creature each turn, starting to blink them for value as early as turn 2 (t1 Thraben
Inspector, t2 Ephemerate or Charming Prince) and keep going to deploy a strong board
while hitting land drops and keeping a bunch of action in hand, finishing with loops based on
Yorion, Sky Nomad, and rounding all that with some cheap interaction.
With 8 maindeck lifegain (blinkable) cards, no lifeloss in the manabase, a ton of

blockers and value, Oust to interact or regain life, and big flying creatures to finish, this list
has a good time against aggro decks. It also fares well against other midrange decks, being
able to outvalue a lot of them. Combo and big mana decks will be tough game 1, so the
sideboard aims mainly at beating those decks, 6 colorless lands in the manabase to disrupt
the opponent’s manabase also help in game 1. As for control… Let us be honest, most of
the good anti control cards are rather expensive, so I would not suggest playing this deck in
a control heavy meta.
The ratios of active cards in the MD are determined according to the following:
- 4 copies of any card that could be played in 4 copies in the expected optimal build of
this deck, I would not play less than 3 copies of each in general, 2 if they are not very
well suited in your expected metagame or you need place for cards taking a similar
role or spot on the curve
- 3 Yorion, Sky Nomad as you do not want to see more than one per game in general,
but it can still be fine in multiples, and is really important for your lategame, you most
likely can cut one copy if you think it is too clunky
- 3 Oust because it is split with other removals to diversify your answers, 3 Oblivion
Ring as a catchall having a decent synergy with Yorion and 2 Winds of Abandon
mainly there as additonal copies of Oust, but with a strong lategame potential, you
can easily change that split or use different removals if you like to, giving you 8
removals overall
To study the manabase, we are based on Frank Karsten’s work. This article contains a lot of
calculations related to that topic, so I would recommend reading this paper if you are not
familiar with the concepts yet: Brewing and tuning a manabase in Modern - Advanced
example
In the manabase of that monoW midrange list, you find:
- 25 lands to ensure land drops for a while, as this decks can be quite mana hungry
- 2 Castle Ardenvale to get something to do with your mana in late game if you still
flood in spite of your other mana sinks.
- 18 Plains, more than enough to make sure that Castle Ardenvale is untapped on turn
2, but also to have WW on turn 3 under Blood Moon
- 20 white sources, enough to pay WW on turn 2, or WWW on turn 4, you can

decrease this number a little if you do not want to play any WW 2-drop, the
manabase is just already prepared to support that in case you want to. You otherwise
can add instead of 2 Plains other colorless utility lands, more Ghost Quarter for
instance if you have troubles with enemy lands
- 5 land destruction lands, to help interacting with big mana decks or enemy utility
lands
Replace any non basic land with Plains if you want to reduce even more the budget.
You can otherwise choose to play only Snow-Covered Plains to gain access to On Thin Ice
instead of Oust. 4 Shefet Dunes instead of 4 white mana sources will also allow you to play
Eldrazi Displacer if you wish.
Last, the example sideboard mostly contains cards to attack big mana and combo
decks, the biggest weakness of the deck, as well as graveyard and aggressive decks. Make
sure to tune it according to your metagame.
To finish with this part, here are some tips to play that deck, as I doubt you can find a
primer for it. You mostly just want to be curving and hitting land drops, until you can play
Yorion, Sky Nomad + Restoration Angel/Charming Prince to blink Yorion again anytime it
comes back in play, enabling to loop your entire board each turn.
Charming Prince having 3 modes, you will have to choose carefully which one to use.
But as basic guidelines, if you are against a Red deck or low on life against a deck with
reach, go with the lifegain. Otherwise, use the blink as often as possible when you have a
relevant target. Only use the scry when you don’t have a good target to blink (in which case
you might want to consider playing something else before, or really need to dig for a certain
card).
And Ephemerate can be used for value (1 mana draw 2 with Wall of Omens), as a
way to protect a creature from a removal, to protect a creature from a bad block/attack in
which it would die, to gain some life with the right creatures, or to blink your whole board with
Yorion (eventually for all the previously mentioned reasons).
Oust vs Dismember vs Condemn vs On Thin Ice vs Path to Exile
These are the most common affordable removals you can get in white. First, I would
recommend not to play Condemn in most metagames, the drawback truly is huge against
things like Devoted Druid, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath, Giver of Runes, Arbor Elf, Meddling
Mage (Meddling Mage players being unlikely to attack with it if they expect flash blockers or
saw your hand)...
Oust and On Thin Ice are very similar in uses, and the most affordable. Oust does
not answer for long the creature you target, and gives your opponent some life (but can also
grant you some life if you use it on your own creature). On Thin Ice can be destroyed, or
worse, the land it targets can be destroyed, however it has an interesting synergy with
Yorion, Sky Nomad as you can change the target, for instance exiling a mana dork early on,
and later in the game a big creature. It is also randomly useful against Emrakul, the Aeons
Torn as it can exile it (the exile coming from the trigger and not the spell), even though
usually your opponent should still be able to give it haste.
Dismember is a little bit more expensive, both in money and life/mana, but you gain
the instant speed, and you can dodge Chalice of the Void on 1 or play it to kill a Magus of
the Moon. What is more, since it is an instant speed removal spell, it helps a lot with
creatures that might be played in flash, or against creatures with haste, and it just leaves you
the opportunity to choose your target more wisely, and to fight on your opponent’s turn. The
main drawbacks are the life loss, so it is not recommended in decks without lifegain,
especially in multiple copies, and the black color makes it weak to Veil of Summer (which is
likely to come in if you play a blue deck). It also “kills” the creature it targets in general,
instead of exiling it or returning it in the deck, so it can be troublesome against decks with
graveyard synrgies.
Last, Path to Exile, known as the best white removal in Modern, is a bit more expensive than
the previous ones, but a staple of so many decks. It exiles at instant speed for 1 mana, but
gives a basic land to the opponent in exchange, making it good against big creatures and
combo ones, but weak against early game threats. You can find a primer for this card here:
[Modern] Card Focus : Path to Exile - EN
If ever you want more than 4 spot removals, you can use a mix of those, but also adding
some copies of Winds of Abandon for the late game bonus (it also dodges Chalice on 1). It
can also count as your 3rd or 4th wrath if needed.
2 - Sideboard tips
Speaking of sideboard, here are some ways of sideboarding against the most
popular decks in the format as I am writing:
RDW decks:
+ 2 Settle the Wreckage + 2 Worship

- 4 Thraben Inspector
You want all the removals you can find, and Worship to basically win the game if it resolves,
your opponent should not be able to kill all of your creatures. Inspector cannot do much
more than just blocking and dying.
Try to use Ephemerate as a combat trick, eventually to get some “free” blocks, if possible
with creatures having enough toughness to not to die from Bolt.
If you want to improve that matchup on a budget, you can add some of the following in your
list: Blessed Alliance, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Celestial Purge, Circle of Protection:Red,
Deafening Silence/Eidolon of Rhetoric/Stonehorn Dignitary (against Prowess), Ratchet
Bomb, Isolate, Condemn, Kor Firewalker, Leyline of Sanctity, Omen of the Sun, Shalai,
Voice of Plenty.
Uro control decks:
+ 3 Aven Mindcensor + 1 Pithing Needle + 3 Soul-Guide Lantern

- 3 Oust - 2 Winds of Abandon -2 kitchen Finks
Bad matchup, but hard to shore with budget cards, just hope that your opponent bricks
enough and you can get there in the sky. Take out the bad removals and anti aggro cards,
and bring in some disruption.
list: Dawn of Hope, Elspeth Conquers Death, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Elspeth, Sun’s
Nemesis, Grand Abolisher, Leonin Arbiter, Relic of Progenitus, Spirit of the Labyrinth,
Suppression Field, Tithe Taker, Vryn Wingmare.
RG midrange:
+ 2 Worship
- 2 Winds of Abandon
Oust the Arbor Elf, make sure to hit your land drops, and you should be able to outvalue
them, their disruption should not affect you much. Just keep a removal for Elder
Gargaroth/Glorybringer if they come by. Pithing Needle can be cute as well if you want to
name a PW or Arbor Elf.
list: Celestial Purge, Leonin Relic-Warder, Ratchet Bomb.
E Tron:
+ 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Worship + 1 Damping Sphere

Thraben Inspector is a liability against both Chalice of the Void and Karn, the Great Creator.
Cut it and replace it with cards that give you enough time to win in the sky.
list: Blessed Alliance, Elspeth Conquers Death, Generous Gift, Sorcerous Spyglass,
Phyrexian Revoker, Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Leonin Relic-Warder, Disenchant, Ratchet
Bomb.
G Tron:
+ 4 Damping Sphere + 3 Aven Mindcensor + 1 Pithing Needle

- 3 Oust - 2 Winds of Abandon - 3 Ephemerate
Take anything you can to slow your opponent, and remove the bad removals as well as
Ephemerate that does not work well with several Damping Sphere.
list: Generous Gift, Leonin Arbiter, Sorcerous Spyglass, Phyrexian Revoker, Leonin
Relic-Warder, Disenchant.
Death’s Shadow decks:
+ 2 Worship + 2 Settle the Wreckage

- 4 Ephemerate
Against the amount of black removals, your creatures might die more easily, making
Ephemerate more dangerous to use. The discard does not help either. Bring in more
removals or ways to lock the game before you win in the air.
list: Celestial Purge, Condemn, Blessed Alliance, Isolate, Generous Gift, Runed Halo, Mirran
Crusader, Ratchet Bomb, Vryn Wingmare (Grixis DS).
BGx midrange decks:
No change?
This deck is already full of value and answers, and the sideboard aims at disrupting fast
decks, so there should not be any need to change anything.
list: Celestial Purge, Dawn of Hope, Elspeth Conquers Death, Elspeth, Knight-Errant,
Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis, Mirran Crusader, Blade Splicer.
Primeval Titan decks:
+ 3 Aven Mindcensor + 4 Damping Sphere (if Amulet)

- 3 Oust (if RG Scapeshift) / - 3 Wall of Omens - 4 Ephemerate (if Amulet)
Aven Mindcensor hurts a lot Scapeshift and Primeval Titan. Damping Sphere can in addition
hit bouncelands and Castle Garenbrig.
Ephemerate is not incredible, and against Scapeshift you don’t need much removals
whereas against Amulet you might not need a cantrip that does not attack.
list: Leonin Arbiter, Generous Gift, Runed Halo/Leyline of Sanctity (against
Scapeshift/Valakut).
Devoted Druid decks:
+ 3 Aven Mindcensor + 1 Pithing Needle

Thraben Inspector’s body is useless here, just bring in ways to hit tutors such as
Elamdamri’s Call, and Pithing Needle to stop the main combo.
list: Leonin Arbiter, Sorcerous Spyglass, Phyrexian Revoker, Grafdigger’s Cage,
Suppression Field.
Tribal decks:
+ 2 Worship + 2 Settle the Wreckage

Once again, the body should not be very impactful, and you want ways to slow the game
before you take over in the air.
list: Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Ratchet Bomb.
Dredge:
+ 2 Worship + 2 Settle the Wreckage + 3 Soul-Guide Lantern (+ 1 Pithing Needle)

- 3 Oust - 3 Oblivion Ring - 1 (or 2) Thraben Inspector
Bring in masse board exile, ways to survive, to hit the graveyard, and even Pithing Needle to
name Shriekhorn (side it out after, your opponent might side out some of his Shriekhorns
when he sees that) or a fetch. Survive and finish in the air.
list: Grafdigger’s Cage, Relic of Progenitus, Remorseful Cleric.
Ad Nauseam:
+ 4 Damping Sphere + 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Worship

- 3 Oust - 2 Winds of Abandon - 3 Ephemerate
Damping Sphere slows the combo, Needle and Worship prevent from using Lightning Storm.
The creature removals are useless here, and Ephemerate is weaker with Damping Sphere.
list: Eidolon of Rhetoric, Deafening Silence, Vryn Wingmare, Generous Gift, Phyrexian
Revoker, Tocatli Honor Guard/Husbringer/Hushwing Gryff… Wait, isn’t that like the worst
anti synergy with the rest of the deck?! Indeed, but it also prevents Thassa’s Oracle from
simply winning the game on the spot… Only play those against Thassa’s Oracle based
decks AND if your meta is full of them.
Storm:
+ 4 Damping Sphere + 2 Worship + 3 Soul-Guide Lantern

- 4 Ephemerate - 2 Winds of Abandon - 3 Thraben Inspector
Use anything that can slow or prevent your opponent from comboing. Oust is important to hit
the bears, and Oblivion Ring for Aria of Flame. Aven Mindcensor can be an option against
the fetch version, but it will not be great post sideboard as some numbers of Gifts Ungiven
are often cut due to expected graveyard hate. Ephemerate leaves due to Damping Sphere,
and Winds of Abandon is not the greatest removal here (most likely too expensive to help
with Goblin tokens anyway). Thraben Inspector will be blocked too easily.
list: Vryn Wingmare, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Celestial Purge, Deafening Silence, Grafdigger’s
Cage, Relic of Progenitus, Leyline of Sanctity, Ratchet Bomb, Remorseful Cleric, Shalai,
Voice of Plenty, Spirit of the Labyrinth.
3 - Optimized lists
The first goal of this list is to build towards UWx midrange, which currently looks like that:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3297237#paper
or that: https://twitter.com/curry_monowhite/status/1296132102799286273
The first improvement in monoW towards that goal will come from getting 4 Path to
Exile, the best white removal. You can also get Lyra Dawnbringer, and make sure that you
have other adapted sideboard cards. As you remain in white, you can also get 4 Stoneforge
Mystic, 1 Batterskull, 1 Sword of Feast and Famine, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice, and 1 Sword of
Light and Shadow, that you can use in the monoW build, but also the UW Stoneblade build.
Then you can start the blue splash, but we will see that in another part below.
For the sideboard, Rest in Peace and Stony Silence can be good improvements depending
on matchups you face, and often appear in UW sideboards (even though Stony Silence not
so much anymore due to the current weakness of artifact decks in the format following
multiple bans).
Otherwise, if you are interested in white-based disruptive decks, and try to play
Leonin Arbiter and/or Eldrazi Displacer in your deck, you can have a look at Eldrazi & Taxes.
BW version: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3279080#paper
MonoW version: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3303561#paper
Without Eldrazi, but again in UW, UW Taxes including “budget” cards such as
Flickerwisp and Blade Splicer might get your interest:
Some non budget cards from those archetypes can also fit pretty well in your UW
midrange, such as Aether Vial if you adapt the curve a little and increase the creatures
count, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben if you cut on some non creature spells, Lurrus of the
Dream-Den as late game recursion if you have enough cheap creatures, Giver of Runes to
protect your creatures, an Eldrazi package with Eldrazi Temple/Thought-Knot Seer/Eldrazi
Displacer, or Ranger-Captain of Eos (preferably with some silver bullets to search for at 1
mana or less, for instance Walking Ballista, and the already mentioned Giver of Runes).
If you enjoyed Ephemerate, have a look at Soulherder:

https://www.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/videos/soulherder-modern-gabriel-nassif/
If you enjoyed Kitchen Finks, still want to play budget, and are interested in playing
some combo deck, this Persist shell might be worth checking:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-103-29-tix-mono-white-persist-combo-m
odern-magic-online
Last, if you love Restoration Angel, and want to discover its combo potential, maybe
Kiki Chord is what you are looking for: https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm37404972
And to finish with this part, here is an example of mid budget monoW midrange list
you could build if you want to keep on improving the specific archetype you started with:
https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1738568-mid-budget-monow-midrange
The estimated budget is around 200$ on TCG, 180€ on MKM and 130 tix on MTGO.
Yorion becomes your companion, so you go up to 80 cards, naturally increasing the

budget. The combo and control matchups are a little bit facilitated thanks to Thought-Knot
Seer, Ranger-Captain of Eos, and Giver of Runes to a lesser extent. If you want to improve
those matchups even more, consider Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Cavern of Souls, and/or
Aether Vial. Stoneforge Mystic also can be a powerful addition for numerous matchups.
Compared to the ultra budget list, the removals are upgraded, and the manabase contains
just the right number of colored lands to cast Kitchen Finks then Thought-Knot Seer, and
ensure that Castle Ardenvale will come into play untapped, while keeping a land ratio
equivalent to 25 lands in 60 cards deck (multiply everything by 4/3, then round up). A few
singleton 1-drops are added to offer more polyvalence to Ranger-Captain of Eos. And the
sideboard is mainly 3 and 4-of to find them more consistently in 80 cards. Burrenton-Forge
Tender could be a good 1-of in this sideboard to find with Ranger-Captain of Eos.
B - Mono Blue Control
Let us now see how one can build a budget control list. Happily, a blue control deck
with a cheap core (even reprinted in Double Masters at common) already is an established
archetype in Modern, much easier to build on a budget than a control deck trying to win with
Planeswalkers. I am of course speaking about MonoBest Tron, aka Blue Tron!
List: https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1738118-ultra-budget-monou-control
Make sure to check the link to look at the maybeboard if you want to find some ideas to tune
your list for your metagame, or according to your preferences. This deck is highly tunable,
maybe even the most tunable deck in the format as there is not really a “stock” list, so do not
hesitate to replace some non essential cards with others depending on what you have
available or what you enjoy playing. The bad news is that, as a control deck, this deck would
still rather have access to some powerful finishers and interactive cards, and not all of them
are cheap, so there can be a lot of possible improvements on that topic depending on your
budget and the cards you have available. Even some of your favorite EDH or standard cards
might fit in, such as Cyclonic Rift or Talisman of Dominance!
85$ with TCG, 42€ with MKM, 21 tix according to deckstats.net. The actual price of
TCG should be much lower, as it still counts some high prices for the Tron pieces and
Expedition Map that were reprinted in Double Masters and are now way cheaper, deckstats
counting each of them over 3.50$ whereas the Double Masters versions are under 1$,
meaning that you should be closer to 40$ if the other estimations are correct.
The list contains most of the core of the archetype: 4 Expedition Map, 4 Urza’s Mine, 4
Urza’s Tower, 4 Urza’s Power Plant, 4 Condescend, 4 Thirst for Knowledge. We are alas
missing Wurmcoil Engine, Walking Ballista, Chalice of the Void, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon,
Academy Ruins, Tolaria West and Karn, the Great Creator as the main non budget staples.
The rest is basically made of a mix of interaction, card advantage and win conditions, as
flexible as possible. The above list was built based on the advice of the following guides for
optimized Blue Tron decks to find the most important cards and deck building lines:
Blue Tron Primer.
[Primer] MonoU Tron - "The well-oiled machine" - Control - Established (Modern) - Modern -
The Game - MTG Salvation Forums
[Primer] Mono U Tron - a fully comprehensive, 99-page primer for an underrated deck. :
ModernMagic
It was then completed with a study on mtgtop8 of all the cards played in the past in the deck
to find which are the most budget among them, up to 2018 (Search: Modern / Urza’s Mine +
Island), enabling to replace the most expensive cards with cheaper ones in the same
role/place on the curve.
The least usual slots here are Mana Leak, which is basically a replacement for Remand in
this deck, while still being used in optimal UWx decks, and 3 Mazemind Tome, which have
just been released and entered Eldrazi Tron decks, but appear to be a good budget
proactive turn 2 for a control deck as well (lifegain, scry and card draw, what is not to love for
a control deck?), and are here to replace Talisman of Dominance in the curve, which appear
to be quite expensive on the American market, while also helping to find additional mana
sources if needed.
N.B.: make sure to note that the previous monoW midrange should be more competitive on
the same budget, and improving this Blue Tron list might not take you in the direction of a
UW Control or midrange list. It is presented here as the best way to play a blue Control in
Modern on a tight budget before you get more budget to get on something different, it is just
meant to be an introduction to draw go Control if you don’t want to try tapout Midrange.
2 - Sideboard tips
RDW decks:
+ 4 Aether Gust / + 1 Aetherize + 1 Evacuation (against Prowess)

- 1 Fact or Fiction - 1 Sundering Titan - 1 Mindslaver - 1 Mana Leak / - 1 Nimble
Obstructionist - 1 Champion of Wits (against Prowess)
You want as much cheap interaction as possible, and lower your curve. 1 Mana Leak can
also be removed since Aether Gust can work as a counterspell as well. Against Prowess,
you want even more removals, especially ways to remove several creatures at once, and cut
on 1 toughness creatures.
list: Lazotep Plating, Ratchet Bomb, Spellskite, Steel Wall, Aetherspouts, Threads of
Disloyalty, Witchbane Orb, Dismember (preferably removals for Prowess, protection for
Burn).
Uro control decks:
+ 1 Sphinx of the Final Word + 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Aether Gust

- 1 Steel Hellkite - 1 Silent Arbiter - 2 Spatial Contortion
Steel Hellkite is unlikely to ever hit your opponent and do anything, and small removals are
usually close to useless. So bring in better win conditions and interactive spells. Depending
on which variant you face, you can also choose to cut on Repeal and add more Aether Gust
or Grafdigger’s Cage.
list: Ashiok, Dream Render, Narset, Parter of Veils, Dispel, Mystical Dispute, Negate, Relic
of Progenitus, Soul-Guide Lantern, Remand, Miscast.
RG midrange:
+ 4 Aether Gust + 1 Pithing Needle

- 2 Spell Pierce/Condescend (on the play/draw) - 2 Mana Leak - 1 Mindslaver
You want to reduce the amount of conditional counterspells as your opponent has a lot of
ways to ramp and bring in the perfect interactive piece against that deck. Mindslaving your
opponent once is unlikely to do much depending on the situation, so adding interaction for
Arbor Elf and Planeswalkers instead is relevant.
list: Dismember, Ratchet Bomb, Oblivion Stone.
E Tron:
+ 4 Spreading Seas
- 2 Spatial Contortion - 2 Spell Pierce
Spreading Seas enable you to keep them off Tron, and turns off annoying lands such as
Cavern of Souls or Eldrazi Temple. Spatial Contortion is terrible here, barely killing anything,
so it’s an easy cut. And Spell Pierce is my second cut as you do not care much about
Chalice of the Void, and you have other counterspells for bigger non creature spells.
Besides, the point of Spell Pierce would be to counter a t1 Expedition Map when you are on
the play, but you bring in Spreading Seas as land hate anyway.
Pithing Needle can be brought in as well if you think your opponent cuts Chalice.
list: Dismember, Tectonic Edge, Disdainful Stroke, Ceremonious Rejection, Remand,
Venser, Shaper Savant.
G Tron:
+ 4 Spreading Seas + 1 Pithing Needle

- 2 Spatial Contortion - 2 Repeal - 1 Silent Arbiter
Spreading Seas to fight the Tron again, Pithing Needle for various activable artifacts and
Planeswalkers, do not forget that naming Expedition Map hits yours too. Take out the anti
aggro stuff, as well as Repeal that should not have many cheap targets here, other than
bouncing your own Spreading Seas for value and eventually change their target. On the
play, it can sometimes bounce an Expedition Map on turn 2 otherwise. Eventually a Karn,
the Great Creator, its toolbox or an Oblivion Stone.
Aether Gust is also an option, especially with Veil of Summer coming in post sideboard. You
can then cut a little on win conditions if you want to increase your early game interactivity.
list: Damping Sphere, Disdainful Stroke, Ceremonious Rejection, Remand, Venser, Shaper
Savant, Summary Dismissal, Whirlwind Denial, Tectonic Edge, Negate.
+ 1 Aetherize + 1 Evacuation (+ 2 Aether Gust against 4c/Jund Shadow)

- 2 Spatial Contortion (- 2 Spell Pierce against 4c/Jund Shadow)
The sideboard plan will really depend on the variant and colors you face. You always want to
bring in Aetherize and Evacuation to slow your opponent. Take out Spatial Contortion as it
cannot kill anything in most Shadow lists, and when it can, you should just add Aether Gust
instead. Spell Pierce can be decent against Grixis lists, so you can leave it.
If you are against a Jund list with Prowess creatures in addition to the usual Shadow
package, follow the Prowess sideboard guide.
list: Dismember, Ratchet Bomb, Echoing Truth, Into the Roil, Lazotep Plating.
BGx midrange decks:
+ 4 Aether Gust + 4 Spreading Seas

- 2 Spell Pierce - 2 Mana Leak - 1 Silent Arbiter - 2 Spatial Contortion - 1 Nimble
Obstructionist
This matchup can go long, but you need to make sure to not to die to Tarmogoyf early on,
and prevent the Planeswalkers from reaching their ultimate. Just keep anything that has
some value or trades 1 for 1 efficiently without falling off once you go in topdeck mode.
Aether Gust offers interaction with most spells and permanents, whereas Spreading Seas
help attacking a 3 color manabase without blue.
list: Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Oblivion Sower, Relic of Progenitus, Spell Snare, Threads of
Disloyalty.
+ 4 Aether Gust + 4 Spreading Seas

- 2 Spell Pierce - 1 Silent Arbiter - 1 Steel Hellkite - 2 Spatial Contortion - 2 Repeal
Just make sure Primeval Titan does not resolve, and you win (and Karn, the Great
Creator/Scapeshift). Spreading Seas can hit bouncelands against Amulet, and prevents
Valakut from pinging you too much in the late game when played naturally.
list: Summary Dismissal, Ashiok, Dream Render, Mindlock Orb, Disdainful Stroke, Remand,
Shadow of Doubt, Tectonic Edge.
+ 4 Aether Gust + 3 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Pithing Needle

- 2 Spell Pierce - 1 Silent Arbiter - 1 Sundering Titan - 2 Mana Leak - 1 Solemn Simulacrum -
1 Nimble Obstructionist
Aether Gust is perfect on the stack and on the field, Cage stops Finale of Devastation/Post
Mortem Lunge/Collected Company depending on the variants, and Pithing Needle makes
sure that Devoted Druid won’t untap. You can replace some of the more conditional
counterspells, and you do not need to be as wary of protecting your life total from attacks as
the creatures are quite small for the most part, until you resolve a haymaker.
list: Sorcerous Spyglass, Phyrexian Revoker, Dismember, Into the Roil, Spell Snare,
Warping Wail, Threads of Disloyalty, Venser, Shaper Savant, Echoing Truth, Ratchet Bomb,
Oblivion Stone.
Tribal decks:
Depends on the tribe: Aetherize and Evacuation always come in, and Aether Gust can be
added against Goblins or Elves. Pithing Needle can be helpful against Aether Vial, or some
Elves/Goblins such as Conspicuous Snoop or Ezuri, Renegade Leader.
Spell Pierce is easy to take out, and then I would recommend removing Mindslaver that can
hardly be used efficiently here without Academy Ruins, and some other counterspells such
as Mana Leak when you take in Aether Gust.
list: Dismember, Threads of Disloyalty, Ratchet Bomb, Aetherspouts, Oblivion Stone, Torpor
Orb.
Dredge:
+ 4 Aether Gust + 3 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Aetherize + 1 Evacuation

- 2 Spatial Contortion - 2 Repeal - 1 Nimble Obstruction - 1 Mindslaver - 1 Sundering Titan -
2 Mana Leak
Improve your counterspells suit, bring in graveyard hate and way to deal with a lot of
creatures without returning them to the graveyard. And cut removals and single target
bounces, as well as the weakest endgame cards for that matchup.
list: Relic of Progenitus, Soul-Guide Lantern, Tormod’s Crypt, Bojuka Bog.
Ad Nauseam:
+ 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Spreading Seas

- 2 Spatial Contortion - 1 Silent Arbiter
Take out ways to deal with creatures, and bring in 2 mana cantrips and Needle for Lightning
Storm. Not much in this sideboard for this matchup on the decline, you already have a lot of
counterspells anyway. If you fear Grand Abolisher, you can keep your removals instead of
the cantrips.
list: Negate, Disdainful Stroke, Dispel, Spell Pierce, Phyrexian Revoker, Sorcerous
Spyglass, Torpor Orb, Jester’s Cap.
Storm:
+ 4 Aether Gust + 3 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Evacuation

- 2 Mana Leak - 1 Silent Arbiter - 1 Sundering Titan - 1 Solemn Simulacrum - 1 Champion of
Wits - 2 Treasure Mage
Most of the fight happens at instant speed, so you want a lot of interaction on the stack and
cut on sorcery speed plays, especially ones that require some blue.
Grafdigger’s Cage is here to lock Past in Flames, and Evacuation helps in case a lot of
Goblin tokens appeared too early. Maybe a point could be done to keep Silent Arbiter for
that reason, and even add Aetherize in, Past in Flames already being hold in respect by
Aether Gust, and they should be less reliant on it post sideboard.
list: Ratchet Bomb, Relic of Progenitus, Soul-Guide Lantern, Tormod’s Crypt, Warping Wail,
Negate, Miscast, Mystical Dispute, Disdainful Stroke, Summary Dismissal, Narset, Parter of
Veils, Ashiok, Dream Render, Lazotep Plating, Spell Snare.
3 - Mid budget and optimized lists
The aim of this paper was to let you start building towards UW control and midrange
variants in Modern. But at a very low budget range, if you remain in a single color and want
to play control, you can hardly get as good a control build as a Blue Tron one. Here is an
example of an optimal Blue Tron list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3308691#paper
Walking Ballista, Wurmcoil Engine, Chalice of the Void, Tolaria West and Academy Ruins
are the most important expensive pieces to get, especially as 1-of to tutor for. Karn, the
Great Creator and its wishboard would be the next step, even though all lists don’t always
play it.
Here is an example of a mid budget list, around 200$/€ and 100 tix that you can build with
some of these improvements:
https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1738525-mid-budget-monou-control
The list gets a bigger toolbox aspect with Trinket Mage, Fabricate and Tolaria West,
enabling to search for a lot of various cheap artifacts such as Walking Ballista, Chalice of the
Void, Engineered Explosives, Tormod’s Crypt… and even play several of them in the main
deck thanks to Thirst for Knowledge and Champion of Wits, here to cycle them in the
matchups where they could be weaker. In this current form of Blue Tron, this list might even
be close to be optimized, minus the metagame tuning. Additional copies of Chalice of the
Void and Walking Ballista can be required to further improvement, Thought-Knot Seer in the
main deck or sideboard, or a Snapcaster Mage or two. Force of Negation can also be a net
bonus if you run at least 16 blue cards in total. Still, feel free to change this list depending on
the cards you have, such as different counterspells, removals or win conditions. Just make
sure to keep the tutoring synergies safe from your changes: for instance, if you cut almost all
0/1-mana artifacts, then maybe Trinket Mage no longer is as useful? Things like Kozilek, the
Great Distortion or Shark Typhoon can also be easily replaced for budget reasons (by some
Fact or Fiction + Torrential Gearhulk for Shark Typhoon for example, or the previously
played Sphinx of the Last Word for Kozilek).
Be wary though, not all of these cards among the expensive ones fit in UW Control
(only Force of Negation, Shark Typhoon, and sometimes Engineered Explosives). Besides, if
UW Control at a very low budget is quite complicated, UW midrange can be a viable option
at a similar price range, so I would recommend to only build towards an optimal Blue Tron
list if that is what you are interested in rather than UW control or midrange. The monoW
midrange build or a UW fetchless midrange build presented in the next part are better
options to achieve that goal.
Indeed, the first idea remains to build a UW Control deck, such as this recent one:
However, UW Stoneblade is more popular in UW at the moment, here is what it looks like:
Playable in both this Blue Tron and UW control, at least 2 Snapcaster Mage and Force of
Negation are the most important expensive pieces to get, and you could make a case for
Search for Azcanta and Crucible of Worlds, even though they no longer are very common in
UW control builds. Shark Typhoon is an additional expensive piece that can be a staple to
both archetypes.
If you want to look at other color combinations, other 2 colors blue control deck exist in
Modern, but are less popular:
- Blue Moon, the most common of them, of which you can find an example of decklist
here: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3303647#paper
- Simic Nexus, which almost always splashes a third color in practice, can still
exceptionally be seen: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3297206#paper
- Dimir Control, often considered as the weakest of the group:
3 colors and more control decks will be mentioned at the end of this article.
II - Mid price 2 colors budget decks
As mentioned earlier, the issue with playing several colors is that the manabase can
be quite expensive to be effective. In particular, fetches are some quite expensive lands, and
often do more than just mana fixing, so not playing them can have serious consequences on
the rest of the deck. Happily, the UW fetch is among the cheapest of them, and the GW and
UB ones are also similarly if not more affordable.
A - Fechtless UW midrange
Let us still see if we can come up with an effective fetchless manabase for a UW
deck. The biggest practical consequence of not playing fetches, especially blue fetches, is
that we can no longer rely efficiently on Mystic Sanctuary. Given the importance of that
synergy in current control lists, I suggest we start looking at a midrange build instead, which
is able to close the game before the missing Sanctuary starts mattering too much. Besides,
even completely optimized, UW midrange is cheaper than UW control, mainly because it
does not rely as much on expensive Planeswalkers but rather cheap creatures. So it is
perfect to build a cheaper 2 colors deck.
1 - A mid budget UW midrange list, and how to build an ultra budget one
List: https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1738659-budget-uw-midrange
Less than 150$/€ on TCG/MKM, and 40 tix on MTGO, seems like a good budget start for a
2-colors deck!
If you want to get closer to 100, among the nonland cards replace Remand and Spell Snare
with more Mana Leak, Dovin’s Veto, Negate, Prohibit or Censor, and cut Settle the
Wreckage and Venser, Shaper Savant, to replace them with anything you have at the ready
or to prepare for your metagame. A 3rd Yorion and a 3rd Omen of the Sun are possibilities,
or even something like Fact or Fiction, Absorb, Supreme Will, Render Silent, Neutralize or
Exclude. Even Mystical Dispute or Aether Gust, currently in the sideboard, can be played in
the main deck depending on your metagame (especially Mystical Dispute, which is just an
expensive Mana Leak at worst). A bounce like Into the Roil can also make a decent
Venser/Cryptic Command impression.
And Path to Exile can be replaced by Oust or Dismember (see the comparison of 1-mana
removals in the part about monoW).
The only unusual active card here is Omen of the Sun. Why this choice? Well, most of the
good UW 3-drops are somehow expensive (Teferi, Time Raveler, Shark Typhoon, Vendilion
Clique, Archmage’s Charm…). Omen of the Sun fits relatively well in the gameplan as it as a
decent synergy with Yorion, it can be seen as additional copies of Kitchen Finks, making it
quite relevant against any aggro or midrange deck, and the instant speed allows it to not be
a terrible card in control or combo matchups. Besides, given that even with 4 Kitchen Finks
the RDW MU can be tough, adding some more help in the main deck looked relevant. You
can consider it as a flex spot as soon as you want to change the list a little though.
You can also notice that more than half of the price of the list goes into the
manabase. Is it worth it? Bad news first: this manabase is extremely sensitive to Blood
Moon, without fetches and/or a lot of basics. Good news now. Other than Hallowed
Fountain, this manabase is painless. Besides, only 4 lands are actual taplands, and they
provide a decent utility in the late game. Moreover, less than half of this manabase contains
actual Islands, and 5 out of the 14 blue sources are not Islands, meaning that you can
manage to still get some blue after Choke/Boil (and your own Spreading Seas might make
those spells funny, or provide you with additional blue sources after a Boil). But does this
manabase actually work?
With 16 white sources, you seem to be 2 lands short to consistently cast Kitchen
Finks on turn 3. However, with 10 2-manas cantrips, you actually happen to be just over that
18 lands requirement in theory, at about 18.6 equivalent white sources (16 + 16/60*10).
With 14 blue sources, same issue for Venser, Shaper Savant or 2 counterspells on turn 4.
Once again, the cantrips fix that up to 16.3 equivalent blue sources (14 + 14/60*10), just
above the 16 lands requirement. 14 and 16 sources is also enough to consistently cast your
turn 2 spells on curve, the requirement being at 13 sources.
You will however not be able to cast your 1 mana spells very often on turn 1, as 7 of
your mana fixings lands will come into play tapped on turn 1, meaning that you will only have
7 untapped blue sources and 9 white ones, far from the 14 sources requirement. Yet, those
cheap spells will help you multi spelling later in the game to get a tempo advantage at that
time, making them interesting even if you don’t cast them on turn 1. They can also be
interesting on turn 2 if you have multiple tap lands to play. It is by the way one of the reasons
why this deck does not run 1 mana cantrips (in addition to already having a lot of 2-manas
cantrips, and no Snapcaster Mage to make good use of it).
The last requirements are:

- first about the number of Islands and Plains for Glacial Fortress to come into play
untapped: with 14 of them, that is just what we want;
- second about the total amount of blue and/or white sources to cast Detention
Sphere. 19 (18+1) are needed, and that is exactly what we got here, without taking
the 10 2-manas cantrips bringing us closer to 22 equivalent sources.
Given that this manabase plays 5 colorless lands (doable in 24 lands especially with 10
cantrips and without Cryptic Command), a singleton Mystic Gate is there to help filtering their
mana sometimes, but the overall manabase still works without taking that in account. You
can also just play a 3rd Glacial Fortress on that spot otherwise, and the 5th colorless land
can be any other utility land (preferably an untapped one), such as Blast Zone.
For budget reasons, you can as well replace 2 Hallowed Fountain with 2 Irrigated Farmland
(which is by the way the only unusual land in Modern UW manabase, even though it
exceptionally appears as a fetchable 1-of), and 2 Celestial Colonnade with 2 Glacial
Fortress. If you need to cut even more in the budget, the last 2 Hallowed Fountain can be
replaced with Prairie Stream, but this one will come into play tapped most of the time without
any late game benefit. Just make sure to keep an adapted number of islands/plains in your
deck for Glacial Fortress if possible, and to keep at least the same amount of colored
sources as counted above.
Here is what you could get if you really wanted to go even lower on the budget with the
previous pieces of advice:
https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1739071-low-budget-uw-midrange
At 65$ TCG/58€ MKM/ 15 tix, it is not that much more expensive than the ultra budget
monocolor variants showcased in the first part, so you can even start with that if you wish to
immediately play 2 colors!
2 - Sideboard tips
No suggestion of budget cards to improve each of those matchups anymore, as the

single budget UW multicolor card we gain are Dovin’s Veto, already in the list, and Geist of
Saint Traft, which you can put in your deck to prepare for non creature combo and big mana
heavy metagames to get a clock. It can also be decent in some other matchups, but I would
not recommend playing it overall unless you just miss playing the card.
Which wraths should you pick?
Maybe I should still mention Engineered Explosives in the sideboard bonuses

though, as this card becomes better the more colors you play. Bogles, Hardened Scales,
RDW, Tribal decks, RG midrange, Death’s Shadow, Jund, Devoted… are just as many
matchups where this card is relevant. It can also find uses to clear tokens, such as zombies
or goblins, or some 0 CMC artifacts such as Walking Ballista and Chalice of the Void. Or
even a Blood Moon that would give you a 3rd color. Just a very solid card to keep in your
sleeve, even maindeckable in some metagames.
Besides, in the monoW midrange build, I did not talk a lot about the wraths that are
Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God and Day of Judgement. Of course you can make use of
them in any creature based matchup, even more so when you play control instead of
midrange. Supreme Verdict is generally the best one, but also the most expensive to buy,
even though Wrath of God has a slight bonus against Ezuri, Renegade Leader of Thrun, the
Last Troll. Day of Judgement is only relevant when you to diversify the name of your wraths
against Meddling Mage.
Settle the Wreckage is better suited in midrange shells where you can force your
opponent to overextend due to your creatures, while not killing them, and is strong against
any aggro matchup, but also against some graveyard based matchups (Dredge and
Crabvine nowadays, even though Crabvine does not really exist much anymore). The
downside of only hitting attacking creatures is annoying though, see the discussion about
Condemn. Winds of Abandon can also provide a similar effect in the late game, with
applications in the early game. Hitting indestructible creatures (read: Bogles) also is a bonus,
as well as non attacking creatures, and it can even count as both a wrath and a spot removal
if you are short on slots in your deck and want both a 5th or 6th spot removal and a 3rd or
4th wrath in your 75.
Last, Cataclysmic Gearhulk is a bit particular, as it is the single effective 5 manas
wrath that sees play in Modern: it gives a good body while preserving another of your
creatures (as you can count itself as an artifact for its trigger), it dodges indestrucbility
(Selfless Spirit), costs 5 manas (Spell Queller) and is not a noncreature spell (Spell Pierce,
Force of Negation and friends). It also works quite well with Yorion, Sky Nomad and
Restoration Angel, and can be looped with other bounces (Cryptic Command, Teferi, Time
Raveler, Jace, the Mind Sculptor…). Besides, it does not hit only creatures, making it quite
relevant against decks like Bogles or Hardened Scales.
You can find out more here: Cataclysmic Gearhulk Primer
RDW decks:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Celestial Purge + 2 Kor Firewalker + 1 Dovin’s Veto (Burn)/+ 1 Settle the
Wreckage (Prowess)
- 4 Spreading Seas - 2 Remand - 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Bring in removals/counterspells and lifegain, and more counterspells against Burn or more
removals against Prowess. Spreading Seas can be fine game 1 but is unexciting game 2/3,
as well as Remand/Venser against a bunch of 1 mana spells.
Trade as much as possible and prevent their creatures from connecting. Against Burn, try to
play around Skullcrack if possible.
Uro control decks:
+ 3 Relic of Progenitus + 2 Mystical Dispute + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1

Aether Gust
- 4 Kitchen Finks - 1 Settle the Wreckage - 2 Path to Exile - 1 Spreading Seas
Settle the Wreckage is the worst card in your maindeck by a mile. Kitchen Finks, while being
an attacker, is a sorcery speed 3-drop that does not do much more than being a 3/2. Path to
Exile barely has any target as well, except a resolved Uro, maybe a Shark Token, or a
Monastery Mentor post sideboard, but can be used on your Wall of Omens or a token for
instance to try to catch a little on your opponent ramping.
Spreading Seas? Indeed, it will hardly disrupt your opponent’s mana, and you should
already have enough ways to interact with Field of the Dead or other annoying lands in your
manabase. But if it comes up, it will be relevant to hit those utility lands, and as a 2-manas
cantrip helping making value with Yorion (or Venser if you want to turn it into a cantrip), it is
not the very worst thing you could be doing. Wall of Omens, while also being mostly just a
2-manas cantrip, can be used with Path to Exile, as already mentioned, as well as
Restoration Angel.
Otherwise, bring in ways to attack the graveyard for Uro/Snapcaster/Sanctuary while

providing value if possible, and as many cards to fight on the stack as possible. Depending
on your opponent’s list, it might even be right to bring in even more copies of Aether Gust, as
it might hit Uro, Growth Spiral, Hour of Promise, Veil of Summer, Wilderness Reclamation,
Wrenn and Six… Cut more copies of Spreading Seas in that case.
RG midrange:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 1 Celestial Purge

- 2 Spell Snare - 1 Settle the Wreckage - 2 Spell Pierce (on the play)/- 2 Mana Leak (on the
draw)
Blood Moon effects are a beating with this manabase, make sure to not to let them resolve,
or to have a way to remove them after if they do (but it might not be all that likely). Be also
wary of Boil/Choke as you still have 9 Islands in the suggested manabase. Using Field of
Ruin to find Plains instead of Islands when you don’t need the blue can be relevant, as well
as just anytime you can to have more basics in play. At least, with Spreading Seas, your
land will not be going down alone. Besides, Spreading Seas on a land enchanted with
Utopia Sprawl will make the green aura fall down, as the land will no longer be a Forest.
E Tron:
+ 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk

- 2 Spell Pierce (on the draw)/ - 2 Spell Snare (on the play) - 1 Settle the Wreckage
Happily, you don’t have all that much 1-drops without Opt, so Chalice of the Void is less
troublesome than it could be. With the addition of Mazemind Tome, Spell Snare becomes
more relevant, also being able to counter Chalice of the Void with X=1, and sometimes some
sideboard cards that might come in the replace potential dead cards in the main deck.
However, on the play, Spell Pierce allows to counter Expedition Map on turn 1 as well as the
previously mentioned cards, but also Karn, the Great Creator and some other stuff make it
quite even more interesting. It could even be right to keep it on the draw as well, but the
tempo gained from having it on the play is more appealing than on the draw, where it might
be harder to start pressuring the opponent quickly, resulting in Spell Pierce falling off in the
late game.
Settle the Wreckage is unlikely to hit a lot of things, especially with Though-Knot Seer
revealing your hand if it resolves, however Cataclysmic Gearhulk can be a beating in the
right spots.
G Tron:
+ 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Mystical Dispute + 2 Aether Gust

- 2 Spell Snare - 1 Settle the Wreckage - 1 Path to Exile - 1 Kitchen Finks
Having 9 direct ways to interact with the Tron lands in the main deck in addition
counterspells should make it a winnable matchup. Venser, Shaper Savant can also slow
things down, especially with Restoration Angel, and then Yorion, Sky Nomad to bounce their
land forever. Post sideboard, bring in ways to interact on the stack. Spell Snare barely has
any target so it leaves, having to use Settle the Wreckage means that you likely are losing
anyway, and for the rest you can cut on Finks as its impact is quite weak, being nothing but
a little clock and way to attack Planeswalkers, and Path to Exile which might often work as a
ramp spell (but helps against Thought-Knot Seer if it’s here as well as Wurmcoil Engine).
Mystical Dispute can come in as an expensive Mana Leak, and Aether Gust can be useful
against Sylvan Scrying; Ancient Stirrings, sometimes Thragtusk, but most importantly Veil of
Summer. It might be right to go up on Dispute/Gust and reduce even more the number of
Finks, and maybe keep all 4 Path to Exile if they are indeed on a Thought-Knot Seer plan.
+ 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Settle the Wreckage + 3 Relic of Progenitus + 2 Mystical Dispute

(Grixis)/ + 3 Aether Gust (Jund/4c) (you can go up to 3)
- 2 Spell Pierce - 2 Remand - 2 Mana Leak - 2 Spell Snare (it can be -1 against Jund/4c) - 1
Venser, Shaper Savant (against Jund/4C)
In this matchup, what can you bring in, and what do you take off? Well, it really depends a lot
on the Shadow version you face. There might be a debate as far as knowing whether Settle
the Wreckage is actually good against all of their disruption, combined with your own
creatures it can still be quite impactful in the matchup
Relic of Progenitus can be quite interesting against Tarmogoyf, as well as Gurmag Angler
(moreso on the play than on the draw)/Snapcaster Mage. Aether Gust will be good against
4c/Jund to hit Tarmogoyf and some other stuff such as Assassin’s Trophy, Abrupt Decay,
Veil of Summer, Wrenn and Six, Traverse the Ulvenwald or Prowess creatures depending
on the version. And Cataclysmic Gearhulk can be fine against the creature heavy variants.
In the maindeck, Spell Pierce can be quite weak, especially with your Path to Exile to let
your opponent pay more easily. Due to your opponent’s low curve, Remand will also be quite
limited, even though it can be good on the play (but really weak on the draw). I would also
recommend not playing more than 1 Spell Snare, but you should have so many good cards
that you can even cut them all, especially against the Grixis version which usually only has
Snapcaster as a good target, and against Grixis you would rather have Mystical Dispute to
play around their counterspells and potential Planeswalkers. On the other hand, Venser,
Shaper Savant is good against Gurmag Angler, but not that much against a bunch of 1 and
2-drops.
You can keep Spreading Seas to attack their shaky manabases, in addition to the value with
Yorion, but feel free to shave it if you don’t like it and just want more counterspells.
Also, make sure to change your sideboard plans depending on what you see of your
opponent’s deck, and whether you are on the draw or the play (for instance, if you want to
keep more counterspells, Remand is better on the play, and Spell Snare on the draw).
BGx midrange decks:
+ 3 Relic of Progenitus + 3 Aether Gust + 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 1 Settle the Wreckage - 2 Spell Pierce - 2 Mana Leak - 1 Venser, Shaper Savant - 2
Remand
Conditional counterspells and removals, bounces? That is not what you want to do here.
You want value and clean trades, and cards that will not fall off in the late game. So shave
on Settle the Wreckage, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak and Venser. Remand is fine, however we
are bringing in some more impactful spells, and the rest of the deck is just value and clean
trades, so I think it is the next cut, especially since we are bringing in some ways to interact
on the stack anyway. In particular, Aether Gust can also be a removal in the late game,
whereas counterspells might start being poor top decks.
Relic of Progenitus is at a premium to interact with Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze, Wrenn

and Six, Kroxa and Klothys. Aether Gust can interact with almost any impactful spell or
permanent other than Liliana of the Veil (and Dark Confident in the lists that might still run it),
just not with Fatal Push and discard. And Celestial Purge covers the Planeswalkers, while
also being helpful against some other creatures. Dovin’s Veto also is a clean answer to the
Planeswalkers/removals.
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 4 Wall of Omens - 1 Settle the Wreckage (if Scapeshift) / - 2 Wall of Omens - 2 Spell Snare
- 1 Settle the Wreckage (if Amulet)
You want anything that can prevent their wincons from resolving, and try to slow them down
as much as possible. Early counterspells can do that especially against Scapeshift, and you
need to keep your removals for Dryad of the Ilysian Grove. Settle the Wreckage is terrible
against any Titan deck (but you might want to keep it if they bring in stuff like Carnage Tyrant
or Thrun, the Last Troll - still, you should be able to race or Gust those).
Against Scapeshift, Wall of Omens should be your least relevant card, as you don’t really
need the value with Restoration Angel/Yorion, Sky Nomad anyway. If you think that you
have enough early interaction, you can shave on Spell Pierce instead though.
Against Amulet, Spell Snare barely has any target. Spell Pierce won’t be great in game 1
either, however it can be more relevant post sideboard as they should bring in more
interaction, such as Beast Within or Mystical Dispute. And you might just catch an Amulet of
Vigor or Karn, the Great Creator with it.
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 1 Settle the Wreckage - 4 Spreading Seas
Basically, you want to stop the Devoted Druid + Vizier of Remedies combo. Spreading Seas
won’t accomplish much, especially given their amount of mana dorks, and Settle the
Wreckage only helps a beatdown plan that you should be able to handle quite well. Aether
Gust does everything from removal to counterspell, Cataclysmic Gearhulk can be good to kill
a bunch of mana dorks and random creatures, and Dovin’s Veto helps against all the tutors,
Veil of Summer and Postmortem Lunge (it is also the reason why you can keep Spell Pierce
post sideboard, to try and stop the tutors early on, or fight Veil, which is often a 4-of).
Tribal decks:
+ 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 1 Settle the Wreckage

- 2 Spell Pierce
The complete sideboard will depend a lot on the tribal deck in question: Mystical Dispute is
good against Spirits and Merfolk, Aether Gust is perfect against Goblins and Elves (and can
be fine against Humans in a low count for Noble Hierarch and Mantis Rider), and Celestial
Purge is solid against Humans. Side out Spreading Seas against the blue based tribal
decks, Mana Leak and Remand (eventually Spell Snare) against the Cavern of Souls/Aether
Vial ones. But it will depend on how many cards you actually want to bring in from your
sideboard.
Dredge:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 3 Relic of Progenitus + 1 Settle the Wreckage + 1 Dovin’s Veto (on the
play)
- 4 Spreading Seas - 1 Venser, Shaper Savant - 2 Mana Leak (1 on the play) - 2 Spell Snare
(0 on the draw)
Graveyard hate and mass exile come in, as well as counterspells for the enablers. Dovin’s
Veto can replace a Spell Snare on the play to still hit Cathartic Reunion, and Mana Leak also
works for that job on the play, but is outclassed by the other counterspells later in the game.
Spell Pierce won’t come out however, to have a chance to hit the t1 enablers (or t2 on the
draw).
Spreading Seas is not great as they have a lot of ways to manage their manabase thanks to
Life from the Loam, and still have a red heavy base. But in game 1 it might cut the green if
you are lucky, however it helps hard casting Prized Amalgam. And Venser, Shaper Savant is
just too slow, while his body is not impactful here.
Ad Nauseam:
+ 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 2 Mystical Dispute

- 1 Settle the Wreckage - 3 Path to Exile
Not much is prepared for this matchup here. You want to play at instant speed and be able
to fight on the stack as much as possible. Remove the removals as much as possible,
happily Path to Exile can still be used to ramp. Sometimes it might be relevant against Grand
Abolisher.
Storm:
+ 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 2

Mystical Dispute + 3 Relic of Progenitus + 3 Aether Gust
- 4 Spreading Seas - 4 Kitchen Finks - 2 Yorion, Sky Nomad - 1 Path to Exile - 1 Settle the
Wreckage
Ok, maaaybe this one is juuust a little oversideboarded with 12 cards moving. Let us why we
would bring in that many.
Here, we first bring in the counterspells to fight during the combo turns (they should have
Mystical Dispute and Remand, sometimes Veil of Summer as well), and prevent Past in
Flames or Aria of Flames from resolving, as well as the bears or some card advantage spells
if we can afford it (or Blood Moon if your opponent has it and realizes that your manabase is
very susceptible to that sort of disruption - the good news is that they won’t have Veil of
Summer then, you can see that if they don’t play any fetchland).
Celestial Purge also comes in to hit Goblin Electromancer and Aria of Flame, and Aether
Gust does both that job and the one of a counterspell, that in addition won’t let Past in
Flames going in the graveyard.
Relic of Progenitus helps with Past in Flames. And Cataclysmic Gearhulk works both as a
way to deal with Goblin tokens, and to close the game.
In the maindeck, I suggest cutting Spreading Seas, which is useless other than cantripping.
Kitchen Finks and Yorion are sorcery speed spells that won’t help you to prevent your
opponent from comboing, just eventually making value or killing not very quickly. Settle the
Wreckage is not really the best answer you could dream of for Goblin tokens, and with
Detention Sphere and Cataclysmic Gearhulk you already have some options. Finally, cutting
a Path to Exile is reasonable as you already have a ton of ways to counter/exile the bears.
The additional copies still work with Wall of Omens as usual.
The main issue here is that you will lack a little ways to close the game quickly, Restoration
Angel being the single real beatdown you have here (and some 1/1 and a 2/2 on the
ground).
B - UW control: a fetchland manabase
List: https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1737028-budget-uw-miracles
This list puts again more than half of its budget in the manabase, especially the
fetchlands, and the rest of the list is designed to make good use of this, with cards enjoying
a full graveyard, others to make use of it and a specific land turning your fetchlands into
spells. Indeed, the first reward for fetchlands is Mystic Sanctuary. So we can add 2 copies of
Cryptic Command, which is the most important payoff here with that land (and the
fetchlands), and also the single expensive nonland card we allow on the deck to keep it on a
budget, in addition to a copy of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria which can still fit if we go just
above the 250$/200€/70 tix mark just seen before.
N.B.: Teferi, Hero of Dominaria would be first cut in addition to a fetchland and a
replacement of Path to Exile with Oust to reach 200$/150€/50 tix if needed. You can then
also cut Cryptic Command if you still need to go lower, replacing it with cards such as some
wraths, Deprive or Commit//Memory.
Here is an example of an ultra budget UW Control with some fetchlands, at 160$/110€/40
tix: https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1740320-ultra-budget-uw-miracles
Still, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria enables the Cryptic Sanctuary soft lock with a single
copy of Cryptic Command in hand and a Mystic Sanctuary in play.
Alas, for budget reasons, we only have a single Planeswalker able to draw a card
each turn here to use that lock, unless you plan to add on a budget something such as Jace
Beleren, Jace, Unraveler of Secrets or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, even though they might
be a bit lower on power level. I would most likely pick Jace, Wielder of Mysteries among
those 3 Planeswalkers as you enjoy filling your graveyard.
However, if you already own from other formats a Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Teferi,
Master of Time, or if you have some budget for them, they are very synergistic here with the
rest of the deck in addition to their raw power. A second copy of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria is
also an option.
Happily, Geier Reach Sanitarium in the manabase gives you a second way to pull off
that lock once you reach 7 manas with a single Cryptic Command! We can also just go for
the lock with one Cryptic Command in hand, one in the graveyard and one Mystic Sanctuary
available if we don’t draw either of these 2 enablers. For more details about the lock (how to
use it, the variations, its weaknesses), check this: [Modern] Card Focus : Cryptic Command
& Mystic Sanctuary - EN
By the way, why did I say that Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Teferi, Master of Time are
synergistic with the deck? It is because you can also find another fan favorite mechanic
here: Miracles! And here you have Terminus and Entreat the Angels, making this deck a UW
Miracles shell, using Mystic Sanctuary to put them back on top for an easy trigger! But
wait… How are you supposed to deal with the Miracle cards stuck in your hand without
those Planeswalkers? This is where another card that synergizes with Mystic Sanctuary
comes in: Tragic Lesson. A card advantage tool in the lategame, triggering Miracles at
instant speed or discarding them before returning them with Mystic Sanctuary, this card does
it all. And once again, Geier Reach Sanitarium matters, filling a similar role.
But that’s not all folks: Geier Reach Sanitarium still has a synergy worth mentioning:
with a Narset, Parter of Veils in play, activate Geier Reach Sanitarium on your opponent’s
upkeep to force a draw/discard (without a chance to use the drawn card in the middle), and
that will mean no card draw in the draw step, meaning that once your opponent is empty
handed, there won’t be any more card to be drawn from the deck.
Speaking of Narset, Parter of Veils, she is here as the best cheap Planeswalker you
can get for the deck, and also a “stock” one. If you love that Planeswalker, feel free to add
some copies of her, and eventually Commit // Memory or Teferi’s Puzzle Box somewhere in
your 75 for the “gotcha”.
The second best cheap Planeswalker you can get, which in addition to that one really
enjoys a filled graveyard and even being milled/discarded, is Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis, which
can give you a 3-turn clock against various decks, or just help you grind, take control of the
board, and even regain some life. As a famous control player once said, “3 x 6 = 18”! Given
your ability to dig for cards with that deck, and due to Escape, a single copy should be good
enough.
Fact or Fiction can be insane in this deck, filling even more the graveyard, eventually
putting Elspeth or some copies of Frantic Inventory in it, and being itself recursive with
Sanctuary if you want it (or what you place in the graveyard with it). Speaking of which,
Frantic Inventory rounds up the card advantage package, allowing you to often draw 2, 3 or
even 4 cards for just 2 manas at instant speed.
And you should now be familiar with the rest of the spells, focused around early
game interaction.
Let us cover the manabase now. We want to:
- cast Cryptic Command on turn 4. With 19 blue lands (counting the fetchlands), it
seems like we are 1 source short. Happily, with 12 1 to 3-mana card draw spells, we
add the equivalent of 4 blue sources (Tragic Lesson draws two cards, so it counts for
2 cantrips, Opt counts for almost as much with the scry at about 1.8 cards - given
that Frank Karsten counts Faithless Looting as 0.5 sources when you have 15/60
sources, and Opt as 0.45 sources -, and Wall of Omens and Frantic Inventory count
just for a single card, so just the fraction of sources there are in the deck), up to 24.5,
4.5 more sources than what is required;
- cast Narset, Parter of Veils on turn 3. 19 sources is more than what we need, and
with the 10 1 and 2-mana cantrips, we even add more equivalent blue sources;
- cast a blue spell on turn 1. We have 6 fetchlands, 5 basic islands and 3 ravlands, up
to 14 untapped blue sources on turn 1, just the requirement;
- activate Mystic Sanctuary on turn 4. To see the complete explanation, please refer to
this document: [Modern] Card Focus : Cryptic Command & Mystic Sanctuary - EN.
Basically, you want the equivalent of at least 20 Islands, in addition to one copy of
Mystic Sanctuary, so 21 Islands at least. We have 16 actual Islands in this deck (not
including one Mystic Sanctuary, counting fetchlands), in addition to 12 card draw
effects between turns 1 and 3, adding up to 20.5 equivalent Islands (in addition to
one copy of Sanctuary), slightly above the theoretical goal;
- cast a spell with W on turn 2 (with a Mystic Sanctuary manabase including colorless
utility lands, it’s going to be hard to do on turn 1 - besides, your main W spell is Path
to Exile, and you don’t really want to have to cast it on turn 1). There are 12 lands in
the manabase that would allow you to do so, slightly below the requirement, which is
surpassed when you add the 4 Opt in the mix, up to 13.5;
- cast a WW spell on turn 4 (Elspeth or two white spells). It requires 16 white sources,
and you have 13 actual ones. With the previously mentioned card draw spells, we
would add barely 3 sources (6x13/60 + 2x2x13/60 + 3.6*13/60, just enough for our
goal;
- cast Dovin’s Veto on turn 2 (the toughest requirement among the multicolor cards we
have here): we already know that blue on turn 2 is ensured with some leeway (turn 1
being already ensured for blue, and on turn 2 we can even count the Colonnade -,
besides you need one less source for turn 2 that turn 1). As for white, we would need
to have 1 more source than what is normally required, and we only have 0.5 source
in excess. We can live with that little loss, especially on only one of the 3 conditions,
and for a spell in 1-of that is strong at any stage of the game, but if it really bothers
you, just replace one colorless land with a white source, such as a Glacial Fortress, a
Celestial Colonnade, a fetchland, a Mystic Gate or just a Plains. If you add a
fetchland, you can even replace one of the Hallowed Fountain with a Prairie Stream.
Now, we just have to check that we have enough lands producing either blue or
white. And we have just 20, exactly what is required (19+1, we take the CC
requirement in Karsten’s table for a 60-card deck and add 1).
If you don’t like Miracle cards, you can instead play that list, with a similar structure,
but replacing the Miracles package with other budget cards: 3 Terminus => Wrath of God +
Day of Judgment + Winds of Abandon, 2 Tragic Lesson => 1 Narset, Parter of Veils + 1 Fact
or Fiction, 1 Entreat the Angels => Secure the Wastes, it could also be Teferi’s Puzzle Box if
you want to have fun with Narset. No change needed in the manabase as the requirements
are the same, you can just cut Geier Reach Sanitarium more easily if you want to, I left it in
this version as it still works well with Narset. You might also want to review the sideboard if
you face more graveyard decks without Terminus, but it already has some dedicated slots
anyway: https://deckstats.net/decks/100622/1740311-budget-uw-control
2 - Sideboard tips
RDW decks:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Celestial Purge + 2 Timely Reinforcements + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 4 Frantic Inventory - 1 Terminus - 1 Entreat the Angels - 1 Spell Pierce
You bring in any cheap interactive spell and lifegain. In the cuts, I suggest some of the
miracle cards that may be clunky if you draw them in multiples, as well as 1 Spell Pierce that
becomes quickly irrelevant with the lands you give with Path to Exile. The last 4 cuts are
Frantic Inventory. Why? Because Burn decks might often play Rest in Peace against control
decks, and you don’t want to have to counter that spell. If you don’t think your opponent
brings Rest in Peace, better cut expensive card advantage spells such as Fact or Fiction,
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Narset, Parter of Veils, which will be much clunkier.
Uro control decks:
+ 1 Ashiok, Dream Render + 1 Soul-Guide Lantern + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto +

2 Aether Gust
- 3 Terminus - 1 Timely Reinforcements - 2 Path to Exile
Remove cards aiming strictly at dealing with creatures as much as possible (Path to Exile is
acceptable in small numbers as an answer to Uro, or as a ramp spell with Wall of Omens or
Elspeth tokens). Then bring in soft graveyard hate with value attached to it, and ways to fight
on the stack. Aether Gust is good against ramp spells, Uro, but also Veil of Summer post
sideboard, and some payoffs. If you are against Temur, just bring in all Aether Gust instead
of Path to Exile.
RG midrange:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Celestial Purge

- 1 Spell Snare - 2 Mana Leak - 1 Spell Pierce (on the play, keep Spell Pierce on the draw
and remove the 3rd copy of Mana Leak)
Aether Gust is obviously good against RG decks, and Celestial Purge helps dealing with
troublesome permanents. Spell Snare barely has any target in this matchup, and I like
cutting conditional counterspells as RG midrange ramps a lot and you even give more lands
with Path to Exile, especially since you just replace them with unconditional ones. Spell
Pierce is more important on the draw since it’s your only chance to counter a spell on turn 1
on the draw without Force of Negation.
E Tron:
+ 3 Ceremonious Rejection + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 2 Opt - 1 Timely Reinforcements - 1 Spell Pierce - 1 Spell Snare (on the play, cut 1 Mana
Leak and 1 Opt on the draw)
Powerful counterspells come in. Timely Reinforcements is not impressive against your
opponent’s threats, so it’s easy to cut. I then like to cut on some 1 mana spells to reduce the
impact of Chalice of the Void. I still keep the 1 mana counterspells on the draw to have a
better chance against t2 Chalice of the Void, or hit Mazemind Tome. Besides, your opponent
might often bring in some cards from his sideboard such as Sorcerous Spyglass. However, if
you face a version without Tome, you can just cut Spell Snare, it’s unlikely to have a lot of
targets. Besides, Ceremonious Rejection already is a 1 mana counterspell. As for Spell
Pierce, there could still be an argument to leave it on the play, as it would then hit Expedition
Map as well. If you don’t cut the 1 mana counterspells, shaving on some amount of Mana
Leak is good as you are just bringing better counterspells instead. And then you can reduce
your amount of Opt to be less susceptible to Chalice of the Void. It’s easier to do on the draw
as you have one more draw step to hit your land drops more easily.
G Tron:
+ 3 Ceremonious Rejection + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Ashiok, Dream

Render + 1 Aether Gust
- 1 Timely Reinforcements - 3 Terminus - 1 Spell Snare - 1 Detention Sphere - 1 Path to
Exile
Cut all the anti aggro cards (Wall of Omens is still fine as a cantrip or with Path to Exile),
Spell Snare that hits only Sylvan Scrying, Detention Sphere that will be destroyed by way too
many things, and you can even shave on 1 Path to Exile (mostly useful for Wurmcoil Engine,
Walking Ballista, 1 or 2 Ulamog, the Cealess Hunger, sometimes Thought-Knot Seer out of
the sideboard). Then bring in your best counterspells, Ashiok, Dream Render to prevent the
Tron from being rebuilt after being destroyed once (or stop Sanctum of Ugin), and 1 copy of
Aether Gust can come in for Ancien Strirrings, Sylvan Scrying and Veil of Summer. If you
don’t like it, just keep the 4th Path to Exile.
+ 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
This is your baseline, as Purge always hits Shadow, and those decks often rely on their
graveyard for various shenanigans (Traverse the Ulvenwald, Snapcaster Mage, Gurmag
Angler…). As for the rest… Aether Gust is strong against the Jund/4c variants, against which
you might also want additional Timely Reinforcements. You can cut on your other cheap
counterspells (Dovin’s Veto, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak mainly, since Spell Snare should still
have a bunch of targets here) to bring that in. Cutting on Narset, Parter of Veils is also viable
against Jund-based Shadow decks if you want those additional Timely Reinforcements.
However, against Grixis, you are not very interested in Spell Snare, neither in Timely
Reinforcements. You can add Ashiok, Dream Render and Dovin’s Veto instead for instance.
Don’t worry too much anyway, UWx decks are heavily favored against Shadow variants
anyway.
BGx midrange decks:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 1 Spell Pierce - 3 Mana Leak - 1 Terminus
Basically upgrading the counterspells so that they remain relevant in the late game. 1
Terminus can leave as it is not likely that your opponent will have a lot of of creatures in play
at once. If you don’t like Terminus and/or Timely Reinforcements at all, just keep the Mana
Leaks, or add some Timely Reinforcements from the sideboard (if it’s only Terminus you
dislike). If you are against a version with Lurrus, make sure to bring in your Soul-Guide
Lantern, most likely instead of that Timely Reinforcements.
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Ashiok, Dream Render + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto

- 1 Timely Reinforcements - 2 Wall of Omens - 1 Mana Leak - 1 Terminus - 1 Detention
Sphere (against Scapeshift)/ - 1 Spell Snare (against Amulet)
Bring in your best counterspells and Ashiok, Dream Render to neuter their “I search my
library to win” gameplan. Remove your anti aggro cards, but keep some Terminus in case of
a zombie invasion, or just to answer various creatures (including potential stuff such as
Carnage Tyrant or Thrun, the Last Troll, resolved when you did not have Aether Gust). Spell
Snare has no target against Amulet, and Scapeshift does not play a lot of nonland
permanents for Detention Sphere. You can then cut on some of your conditional
counterspells: I like shaving on Mana Leak rather than Spell Pierce here to better fight some
sideboard interactive cards, and because you already have a ton of 2 manas counterspells.
+ 3 Aether Gust + 2 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Ashiok, Dream Render

- 1 Timely Reinforcements - 2 Mana Leak - 2 Narset, Parter of Veils
No need to bring in Celestial Purge just for Lurrus, you already have enough other options to
deal with it. Grafdigger’s Cage and Ashiok, Dream Render even come in to prevent it from
generating value, while also hitting Postmortem Lunge, Finale of Devastation or Chord of
Calling (if it’s here). Aether Gust is great to hit almost all of their spells too.
As for the cuts… You don’t have many bad cards against them, even stuff like Dovin’s Veto
is good. Narset against a creature based shell is not incredible, and we can then cut on the
conditional counterspells against a deck with a lot of ways to ramp, especially since we bring
in better 2 manas counterspells. You can cut Spell Pierce and keep Mana Leak if you want,
but I like having a way to better fight against the tutor pieces and Veil of Summer in the early
game, since the late game should be very favorable anyway.
Tribal decks:
Your sideboard will depend a lot on what you face here. Against some of them with multiple
noncreature spells and ways to overcome multiple blockers (Spirits, Merfolks…), you want to
keep Spell Pierce and Dovin’s Veto, otherwise you’ll want Timely Reinforcements. Aether
Gust is great against Goblins and Elves, fine at 1 copy against Humans, and Celestial Purge
comes in against Humans and Elves.
Dredge:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Ashiok, Dream Render + 2 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Soul-Guide Lantern +

1 Dovin’s Veto
- 1 Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis - 4 Path to Exile - 1 Fact or Fiction - 1 Mana Leak - 1 Spell Snare
(Keep Spell Snare on the draw and cut another Mana Leak, to have a chance to hit Cathartic
Reunion)
Graveyard obviously comes in, then suited counterspells. Thanks to Terminus and Aether
Gust in addition to some of your other bodies, you can cut Path to Exile, more creatures than
you can remove will come anyway. Then you can cut a few counterspells as you are bringing
more and better ones. I then recommend to lower your curve a little as you can grind this out
anyway, and I choose here Fact or Fiction which is your only expensive card advantage tool
that does not affect your opponent or the board, and Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis, because of
Grafdigger’s Cage (and because your opponent might have too much life to die quickly from
some small tokens anyway).
If you think that you have too many counterspells, you can shave some Mana Leak for
Timely Reinforcements, same thing for card advantage spells.
One interesting interaction in this matchup to know is with a Narset, Parter of Veils in play. If
your opponent draws once, then he can no longer dredge nor draw for the rest of the turn.
However, if he starts dredging, then he can draw once later this turn.
Ad Nauseam:
+ 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 3 Ceremonious Rejection + 1 Soul-Guide Lantern

- 3 Terminus - 1 Timely Reinforcements - 2 Path to Exile
You take out anything that wants creatures on the other side to be effective and bring in
counterspells. Path to Exile still working with Wall of Omens allows it to not be completely
dead at least. Soul-Guide Lantern comes because… well, it’s a 2-mana cantrip, better than a
dead card. And Ceremonious Rejection can hit various mana rocks, even though I would not
recommend that many copies if there were not that many cards to take out.
Storm:
+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Ashiok, Dream Render + 1

Soul-Guide Lantern + 1 Celestial Purge + 2 Grafdigger’s Cage
- 1 Timely Reinforcements - 1 Terminus - 1 Spell Pierce - 3 Mana Leak - 2 Wall of Omens - 1
Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis - 1 Path to Exile
Bring in stronger counterspells, graveyard hate for Past in Flames (Ashiok, Dream Render
also shuts down Gifts Ungiven, and fetches if there are any), and Celestial Purge which
helps with Goblin Electromancer without giving a land and Aria of Flame.
Then cut conditional counterspells, as your opponent will have a lot of mana during combo
turns and you bring better ones. Timely Reinforcements won’t do much, neither might Wall of
Omens other than being a 2 manas cantrip. You can shave a little on Terminus, but not too
much due to the threat of Goblins, and it can still help with bears. You also have a Detention
Sphere for the Goblins otherwise. You can trim a bit on Path to Exile as well, as you will
have a lot of answers to Goblin Electromancer, and just need them to hit a resolved Baral,
Chief of Dominance. I then recommend cutting a big sorcery spell. Here, I choose Elspeth,
Sun’s Nemesis, as I bring Grafdigger’s Cage in, and because Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
actually lets you untap with more mana (however, it is more susceptible to Mystical Dispute
or Remand).
If your opponent really is heavy on the Goblins plan, keep all copies of Terminus. And if
there is no Aria of Flame, no need for Celestial Purge, just keep Path to Exile to be sure to
exile any bear.
If you feel like Cryptic Command is too clunky, you might as well keep Wall of Omens to
protect your Planeswalkers from bear beatdown, and have a cantrip to dig for answers.
C - Discussing the expensive UW staples
We already saw in the monocolor parts what optimal UW control and midrange lists
could look like. So let us see what are the most important non budget pieces for UW
midrange and control here, that you should grab as soon as you get the budget for it. When
it is not mentioned otherwise, you usually want at least 2 of each of these cards.
Force of Negation
This card is a MASSIVE upgrade. It is especially useful against control and combo
decks, but can also help against some fast aggressive decks, and I believe it is one of the
reasons why Veil of Summer is legal in Modern. If you keep a list with several taplands, it
might be even more important to have ways to cast a spell for free. Besides, contrary to
Spell Pierce, it still remains relevant in the late game. You should be able to have success
without it in heavy aggro/midrange meta, but otherwise it will be essential to your results.
Currently one of the most expensive cards in Modern control, second only to Jace, the Mind
Sculptor, that we can cover next since we just mentioned it. Prepare at least 50$, 40€ or now
90 tix for it. Spell Pierce, Spell Snare and Dovin’s Veto should be the closest replacements
you can get for that role.
Priority: HIGH (in metas with just some control and combo) / Medium (in metas with very few
control and combo)
Jace, the Mind Sculptor / Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
For UW midrange, both cards have a similar role in the deck, that is to say non
creature card advantage tools and win conditions able to impact the board. They also
provide the occasional bonus of being able to win without attacking. And in UW midrange,
they are even harder to kill as you have more blockers than in normal UW control. In Control,
those are your main win conditions, and you like having access to both: untapping with the
two at once just means winning basically.
They are better with Force of Negation, allowing you to tap out for them more often,
and fetches + Mystic Sanctuary, allowing to draw the spell you could want from your
graveyard, and eventually starting the Cryptic Sanctuary soft lock if you also add Cryptic
Command. In particular, Jace, the Mind Sculptor (at least 55 $/ 50 € / 9 tix) is quite weak
without fetchlands as it will be harder to shuffle away your dead cards, so I would avoid
buying it before the fetches. Besides, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (24 $/ 25 €/ 3.5 tix) is half
cheaper, so I would pick one copy of this Planeswalker first if you want to start adding the
“stock” Planeswalkers to your list.
You can also still play without either Planeswalker in UW midrange, but if you want
some of them on a budget, you can go with either Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis (the cheapest
competitive one, around 3€/1$50/0.50 tix, providing a fast clock, multiple bodies and lifegain,
but you need Opt and fetches to feed her more effectively, she is still fine with Yorion, Sky
Nomad though - she does not enable the Cryptic Sanctuary soft lock either) or Gideon, Ally
of Zendikar (6$/7€/4 tix, does not enable the soft lock but is strong in fair matchups and
provides a good clock), as presented in the Control budget build.
Priority: HIGH (in Control) / Medium (in Midrange)
Cryptic Command
Another card that can be even better in Midrange than in Control. Indeed, it makes
the mode: “Tap all creatures your opponents control.” even more impactful as you can just
make use of the tempo you gain that way to win a race with your own creatures. And also
another card that is much stronger with fetchlands, in particular thanks to Mystic Sanctuary.
Overall, it makes the game harder for your opponent as once you reach 4 manas, you can
have a lot of instant speed plays coming either from flash creatures, cantrips, Cryptic
Command and a lot of miscellaneous removals and counterspells. Just a very good card to
get, and an essential piece for your late game inevitability once you have a fetchland
manabase (and some Planeswalkers as card draw engine). 5 tix, 13€, 17$.
For more details about Cryptic Command, Mystic Sanctuary, and the lock, give this article a
read: [Modern] Card Focus : Cryptic Command & Mystic Sanctuary - EN
Priority: Medium (without fetches) / HIGH (with fetches)
Teferi, Time Raveler
This card completely changed the dynamic of UWx decks, and has an immense impact in
several matchups. In particular, a resolved Teferi, Time Raveler drastically turns the tide in
control and tempo matchups, turning off all counterspells, and makes you a big favorite in
spell based combo matchups if it resolves, turning all of your counterspells in Dovin’s Veto,
and preventing them from trying to combo at the end of your turn. It also has applications
against anything playing permanents as it gives you an option to bounce almost anything
and counter it on the way back, just use it as a tempo play against faster matchups, or use it
as a card advantage tool by bouncing some of your permanents with interesting ETB
abilities. 12$ / 12 € / 35 tix.
Make sure to check this guide to Teferi if you want to understand it in depth and find all its
uses: [Modern] Card Focus : Teferi, Time Raveler - EN
Snapcaster Mage
Once one of the most important cards you could get, easily played in 3 or 4 copies in
any UW control or midrange shell, Mystic Sanctuary reduced its importance. It is much more
important in the control shells than the midrange ones, as it provides a way to get on the
board and pressure life points and planeswalkers, or protect your own. Make sure to play 4
Opt alongside it if you want to play more than 2 copies, and ideally a bunch of cheap
interactive spells. Its importance goes up if you don’t want to buy fetches yet. 40 $/30 €/5 tix
Priority: depends on your manabase (less essential with Mystic Sanctuary), whether you
play control or midrange (more important if you don’t have many other ways to get on the
board), and whether you have a lot of other equivalent 3-drops (see below).
The 3-drop instant speed slots
This means Shark Typhoon / Archmage’s Charm / Spell Queller / Vendilion Clique:
those ones usually share a similar spot on the mana curve when you build your deck.
Archmage’s Charm gets better when you have fetches Mystic Sanctuary or when you
face a lot of decks with 1-drops (who doesn’t love stealing a mana dork, then untap and play
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria?), just a solid spell when your manabase supports it and you want
Card Advantage and ways to play at instant speed. 6 $ / 4 € / 5 tix
Shark Typhoon mostly is used in fair metagames, or ones that require you to play at
instant speed a lot. 13 $ / 15 € / 23 tix
Spell Queller is particularly interesting with Teferi, Time Raveler, and Restoration
Angel, you mostly find it in creature builds, or in the sideboard of control decks as an
alternative gameplan when your opponent shaves their removals (but few people actually
have it in sideboard anymore because of the threat of Stoneforge Mystic/Shark
Typhoon/Monastery Mentor). It is usually good against anything without a ton of spot
removals, in which case it might just be fine. It is however not very good in very grindy
metagames as it does not provide any card advantage without Teferi, and suffers from the
same troubles as Vendilion Clique below against some recent blockers. 5 $ / 7 € / 3 tix
And Vendilion Clique is great against control and combo, decent against aggro decks
as a blocker and eventually as a way to cycle dead nonland cards in your hand, but weak
against midrange where it generates no value, and might just die too easily with 1 toughness
(Wrenn and Six, Lava Dart, Ice-Fang Coatl, a 1/1 Shark token are several recent reasons
why Clique is not really a maindeck inclusion anymore, if at all in the 75 sometimes). It gets
better with Restoration Angel for additional triggers, or Narset, Parter of Veils to turn into
actual Thoughtseize. It can also be a sideboard card for the matchups where it shines. 9 $ /
9 € / 1.50 tix
Priority: choose some depending on your budget, your build (control or midrange/with or
without fetchlands) and your metagame, they are useful to fill your curve around 3 manas.
Lyra Dawnbringer
A quick mention for this one. While easily replaceable with Baneslayer Angel in
control, in UW midrange she has the strict advantage of buffing your Restoration Angel and
giving it lifelink. T4 Restoration Angel t5 Lyra should be a win against any aggro deck. In
control, if you want to play 2 5-mana Angels, you can also play one of each, as she will buff
Baneslayer Angel too. 8$ / 5€ / 0.3 tix
Priority: depends on whether you play Restoration Angel, just get Baneslayer Angel for that
effect otherwise.
Stoneforge Mystic
In addition to 4 Stoneforge Mystic, you would also need two to three of the following:
Batterskull (x2), Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and
Shadow. The baseline in UWx is 1 Batterskull (do we still have to present the interaction
between SFM and that equipment?) and 1 Sword of Feast and Famine (the untap trigger
being the perfect one for a deck playing a lot at instant speed). Until recently, you would only
find those 2 equipments in the main deck, and often a third in the sideboard. The goal was to
reduce the odds of drawing several equipments in game 1 against fast decks, just keeping
the essential ones: by default Batterskull was searched for against aggro and midrange, and
Sword of Feast and Famine against combo and control (with exceptions of course
depending on the colors, the state of the game…), which allowed you to cover a wide variety
of matchups.
In the sideboard, you could often find a 3rd equipment:

- a 2nd Batterskull could be added for grindy and aggro matchups (replacing
Sword of Feast and Famine in aggro matchups, and being added as 3rd SFM
target in grindy ones)
- Sword of Fire and Ice for anything with blue or red (replacing Sword of Feast and
Famine against aggro matchups with the right colors, Batterskull against the blue
combo decks where you just want to be leaner, and coming as 3rd equipment
against grindy matchups)
- Sword of Light and Shadow, only in midrange shells with some amount of
creatures, following the same sideboard logic as the 2nd Batterskull
In the current meta, considered as much fairer than what we used to have, having a 3rd
equipment being Sword of Fire and Ice in addition to the most important ones is currently
stock in the main deck.
Priority: Low, it is only needed if you want to build the Stoneblade UW variant. You also have
to acquire some of the 3-drops creatures mentioned before to increase the number of sword
holders.
Monastery Mentor
Mentor mostly is a sideboard card of UW control that you bring in against combo,
control and aggro decks with barely any removal (or when you have dead cards). You can
see it as the mirror breaker, one of your best threats against combo (second only to Geist of
Saint Traft when there isn’t any blocker) and almost a wrath by itself against some aggro
decks. It is way better once you have Force of Negation to deploy it on turn 3 against combo.
15 $ / 16 € / 6 tix
Priority: depends on whether you play control or midrange, whether you own Force of
Negation, and how much combo and control you face. One of the best improvements you
can get in your sideboard, but other creatures can fill a similar beatdown role if needed,
including the 3 drops mentioned before in that part.
Supreme Verdict
Usually considered as the best wrath in Modern (and Pioneer), Supreme Verdict can
be replaced with something like Wrath of God or Day of Judgment in UW Control, or Settle
the Wreckages in creatures based shells. However, against decks like Grixis/4c Death’s
Shadow with Stubborn Denial, or Merfolks, Spirits… any aggro deck with counterspells, the
uncounterability clause is huge. 6 $ / 5 € / 4 tix
Priority: HIGH against blue aggressive decks, or once you have Force of Negation, Medium
otherwise, other wraths will do.

III - Splashing a third color?
A - The easiest: Esper
B - The most powerful (right now): Bant
C - The forgotten one: Jeskai
D - More colors?
Conclusion
Going further
Here are some resources that can help you learn more about Control in Modern and stay up
to date with the latest evolutions:
● The best Facebook group: MTG Modern: Competitive UWx Control, Stoneblade, &
Midrange Community
● The Discord server of reference: Control Freaks
● Great explicative videos: IslandsInFront
● Also a writer dedicated to Control theory: Skura
● A very active Control content creator: harrymtg
● The most famous control Podcast: Midweek Metagame
● Active streamer and control brewer: tspjendrek
● The biggest Modern UW Control primer, with a lot of other references: The
Comprehensive Modern Azorius Control, Stoneblade, & Midrange Primer
● The Patreon for any competitive UWx control player: Do0mswitch

Budget Azorius Control and Midrange Decks in Modern - Copy - Part I and II

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Budget Azorius Control and Midrange Decks in Modern - Copy - Part I and II

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Budget Azorius Control and midrange

I - Monocolor ultra budget decks 3

II - Mid price 2 colors budget decks 23

III - Splashing a third color? 47

A - Mono White Midrange

1 - Presentation of the list

With 8 maindeck lifegain (blinkable) cards, no lifeloss in the manabase, a ton of

- 20 white sources, enough to pay WW on turn 2, or WWW on turn 4, you can

[Modern] Card Focus : Path to Exile - EN

+ 2 Settle the Wreckage + 2 Worship

Uro control decks​:

+ 3 Aven Mindcensor + 1 Pithing Needle + 3 Soul-Guide Lantern

+ 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Worship + 1 Damping Sphere

+ 4 Damping Sphere + 3 Aven Mindcensor + 1 Pithing Needle

Death’s Shadow decks​:

+ 2 Worship + 2 Settle the Wreckage

BGx midrange decks​:

Primeval Titan decks​:

+ 3 Aven Mindcensor + 4 Damping Sphere (if Amulet)

Devoted Druid decks​:

+ 3 Aven Mindcensor + 1 Pithing Needle

+ 2 Worship + 2 Settle the Wreckage

+ 2 Worship + 2 Settle the Wreckage + 3 Soul-Guide Lantern (+ 1 Pithing Needle)

+ 4 Damping Sphere + 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Worship

+ 4 Damping Sphere + 2 Worship + 3 Soul-Guide Lantern

If you enjoyed Ephemerate, have a look at Soulherder:

Yorion becomes your companion, so you go up to 80 cards, naturally increasing the

1 - Presentation of the list

+ 4 Aether Gust / + 1 Aetherize + 1 Evacuation (against Prowess)

Uro control decks​:

+ 1 Sphinx of the Final Word + 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Aether Gust

+ 4 Aether Gust + 1 Pithing Needle

+ 4 Spreading Seas + 1 Pithing Needle

Death’s Shadow decks​:

+ 1 Aetherize + 1 Evacuation (+ 2 Aether Gust against 4c/Jund Shadow)

BGx midrange decks​:

+ 4 Aether Gust + 4 Spreading Seas

Primeval Titan decks​:

+ 4 Aether Gust + 4 Spreading Seas

Devoted Druid decks​:

+ 4 Aether Gust + 3 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Pithing Needle

+ 4 Aether Gust + 3 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Aetherize + 1 Evacuation

+ 1 Pithing Needle + 2 Spreading Seas

+ 4 Aether Gust + 3 Grafdigger’s Cage + 1 Evacuation

The last requirements are:

No suggestion of budget cards to improve each of those matchups anymore, as the

Which wraths should you pick?

Maybe I should still mention Engineered Explosives in the sideboard bonuses

Uro control decks​:

+ 3 Relic of Progenitus + 2 Mystical Dispute + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1

Otherwise, bring in ways to attack the graveyard for Uro/Snapcaster/Sanctuary while

+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 1 Celestial Purge

+ 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk

+ 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto + 1 Mystical Dispute + 2 Aether Gust

Death’s Shadow decks​:

+ 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Settle the Wreckage + 3 Relic of Progenitus + 2 Mystical Dispute

BGx midrange decks​:

+ 3 Relic of Progenitus + 3 Aether Gust + 1 Celestial Purge + 1 Dovin’s Veto

Relic of Progenitus is at a premium to interact with Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze, Wrenn

Primeval Titan decks​:

+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Disdainful Stroke + 1 Dovin’s Veto

Devoted Druid decks​:

+ 3 Aether Gust + 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 1 Dovin’s Veto

+ 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk + 1 Settle the Wreckage

Uro control decks:

Death’s Shadow decks:

BGx midrange decks:

Primeval Titan decks:

Devoted Druid decks:

Uro control decks:

Death’s Shadow decks:

BGx midrange decks:

Primeval Titan decks:

Devoted Druid decks:

Uro control decks:

Death’s Shadow decks:

BGx midrange decks:

Primeval Titan decks:

Devoted Druid decks:

Uro control decks:

Death’s Shadow decks:

BGx midrange decks:

Primeval Titan decks:

Devoted Druid decks:

Priority: HIGH (in Control) / Medium (in Midrange)

Priority: Medium (without fetches) / HIGH (with fetches)

● The Discord server of reference: Control Freaks

● Great explicative videos: IslandsInFront

● Also a writer dedicated to Control theory: Skura

● A very active Control content creator: harrymtg

● The most famous control Podcast: Midweek Metagame

● Active streamer and control brewer: tspjendrek

● The Patreon for any competitive UWx control player: Do0mswitch