Does this deck look familiar? Because it should.
Let me give you a hint. Cut four Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and four Through the Breach. Add four Splinter Twin and four Deceiver Exarch.
The maindeck Blood Moons can become a couple of Pestermites and an extra land if you want to be pedantic, which, as I anyone who knows me can tell you, I do.
This is the spiritual successor to Splinter Twin, a U/R combo-control deck that uses the threat of an incredible combo to scare its opponent into awkward spots. The Emrakul-Breach combo doesn’t end the game in the way Twin-Exarch did (just ask Harry Corvese), but it has the advantage of not being vulnerable to creature removal spells.
When your deck has Lightning Bolt and Snapcaster Mage, dealing fifteen damage and destroying your opponent’s battlefield is going to be even closer to winning in Modern than it is in Legacy. You also have the maindeck Blood Moons to make recovering from the Emrakul, the Aeons Torn attack even more difficult.
The rest of the maindeck is straight out of the Twin mold, except with a few more cantrips (I can play my Portal Sleight of Hands!), which makes sense, given how ineffective the individual combo pieces are. In light of that, this deck is a little more combo than control, but the difference is quite small.
The sideboard, as you might expect, further pushes the deck toward the control end of the spectrum. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is particularly good here because you can cast it on the end step to create a shield for your Through the Breach after you untap. The Boseiju, Who Shelters All serves a similar purpose, especially if you want to focus more on the combo against a counterspell-laden deck.
The one addition I would like to make is a more powerful threat than Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Batterskull or Keranos, God of Storms could work well in that role, although both have dropped in stock due to Kolaghan’s Command and Nahiri, the Harbinger, respectively.
Beyond that, there isn’t much to adjust to this list because the blueprint is already there. The maindeck Blood Moons should be surprisingly effective, since most opponents will assume you’re a white-screwed Jeskai deck. Also, who in their right mind expects to get Emrakuled after a few removal spells and a Serum Visions?
It’s like I always say: sneaky Emrakuls are the best Emrakuls.
Creatures (8)
Lands (23)
Spells (29)
