Daily Digest: For Whom The Bell Tolls

For today’s Daily Digest, Gerry takes a look at one of the weirdest lockdown mechanisms available to Modern as a reminder of what you can do with large card pools and a strange definition of fun.

This deck isn’t exactly new, but it’s kind of faded into obscurity, poised for a comeback. And this deck is disgusting.

The gist is to use Lantern of Insight to see what your opponent has coming up and have Ghoulcaller’s Bell and Codex Shredder to control their draw steps. With Mox Opal and Ancient Stirrings, you can have the soft lock set up very quickly. Since your deck is mostly cheap spells, your hand will be empty for Ensnaring Bridge. At that point, you can remain hellbent and only try to change what they would draw if it’s a burn spell or Abrupt Decay effect.

Spellskite protects your important permanents and Faithless Looting is like this deck’s Brainstorm. It will turn your trash into treasure, and since you’re interested in going hellbent at some point, the card disadvantage isn’t a bother. Being hellbent also makes Infernal Tutor is a playable Magic card. Ancient Stirrings also helps find whatever you need.

The actual kill might be glacial, but this deck isn’t short on win conditions. It can be as simple as using Academy Ruins to stave off decking, but Nephalia Drownyard could accelerate the process. You could also recur Pyrite Spellbomb indefinitely if necessary. Pyxis of Pandemonium is an unlikely win condition, but it’s also a Ghoulcaller’s Bell if necessary. The cleanest win condition is Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, but you don’t want to draw too many of them.

This is one of the strangest decks in Modern, but it just goes to show what’s capable with a large card pool.

Lantern Lock

Mike Mazujian

2nd Place at Star City Games Invitational Qualifier on 04-25-2015

Modern