Daily Digest: Ojutai’s Expansion Plan

Think Dragonlord Ojutai is a Standard-only card? Not true according to GerryT. See the Dragonlord’s breakout performance before hitting the #SCGINVI and Grand Prix Charlotte!

It was only a matter of time before Dragonlord Ojutai became the tap-out threat of choice for Modern control decks. Minamo, School at Water’s Edge allows it to have a Morphling-like quality that we haven’t seen in quite some time. There’s even a Tolaria West to find Minamo, School at Water’s Edge, with very few specialty targets in the deck. I’m definitely surprised to not see Engineered Explosives, Pact of Negation, or Slaughter Pact in the deck.

The other sweet thing about is this deck is the use of Nameless Inversion alongside Silumgar’s Scorn to give you a good Counterspell impression. Nameless Inversion isn’t embarrassing in Modern, so it’s not like you’re jumping through hoops to make Silumgar’s Scorn happen, you just have to play some slightly worse cards to get some slightly better cards. Overall, I think that’s a reasonable price to pay for Counterspell.

Dragonlord Ojutai is definitely weak to Liliana of the Veil, but that’s why Inquisition of Kozilek and Lingering Souls makes the maindeck, along with Celestial Purge in the sideboard. If you can protect Dragonlord Ojutai, you will likely win, so you need to figure out the common threats to it. Rending Volley exists, but the aforementioned Minamo, School at Water’s Edge helps in that regard.

The sideboard contains the typical things you see in white Modern decks, such as Stony Silence and Timely Reinforcements, but it’s also got some spice in Stubborn Denial! Against combo decks, Force Spike is perfectly serviceable, and if you need some additional help keeping Dragonlord Ojutai alive, Stubborn Denial is one of the best cards you could possibly have. Still, I wouldn’t mind having a Pact of Negation in this deck.