Lantern Control is undoubtedly one of the most infamous archetypes in Modern’s history. If you’ve ever been on the other side of the matchup, you know how frustrating it can be to essentially get locked out of any relevant draws or attacks while awaiting your inevitable defeat.
That being said, Lantern Control hasn’t been much of a factor in the format for years. A mix of power creep, metagame shifts, the initial banning of Mox Opal, and hate pieces being added to the format has held the deck in check.
Interestingly, though, a unique take on the deck managed to go undefeated in a recent Magic Online Modern League. Lantern Control is still a fringe archetype but adding a playset of a Tarkir: Dragonstorm Sorcery may have given the deck some extra fighting power.
Lantern Control Gameplan
Most of this decklist consists of traditional Lantern Control elements with a similar goal in mind. Your main objective is to get to a position where your opponent is unable to attack you, and you can consistently manipulate the top card of your opponent’s deck.
In order to do so, you need a few different pieces in play. Arguably the most important card in the deck is Ensnaring Bridge. With Ensnaring Bridge in play, once you’re able to empty your hand, you’re under no threat of dying to combat damage.
There are three copies of Ensnaring Bridge in the deck. With Whir of Invention in the mix, you can reliably find a copy later in the game to help you stabilize, even if you’re at a low life total. Your copies of Thoughtseize can help strip your opponent of any potential answer to the powerful Artifact as well.
Most of the rest of the cards in your deck are very cheap. This makes it easier to get your hand size low enough for Ensnaring Bridge to do its job. While most strategies would have to be weary of the opponent topdecking an answer to your Bridge, this deck is designed to prevent that from happening.
This is because of another essential piece of the puzzle: Lantern of Insight. Lantern of Insight is a strange card with a very simple effect: players play with the top cards of their library revealed. By itself, Lantern of Insight is a bad Magic card. Combined with Codex Shredder or Pyxis of Pandemonium, though, the card becomes the ultimate win condition.
Shredder and Pyxis allow you to mill your opponent’s top card at will. If they’re drawing something problematic, such as an answer to Ensnaring Bridge or a game breaking combo card, you can just mill it. Once you know they’re drawing something bad, you choose not to activate your Artifacts. Eventually, you’ll win by milling your opponent out with Shredder.
A Neat Addition
What makes this deck pretty spicy is the inclusion of a full playset of United Battlefront. United Battlefront has made a name for itself in mono-white control in Pioneer. By Modern’s standards, however, United Battlefront is a little bit slow.
Four mana is a lot for a Sorcery. Luckily, Mox Opal helps you cast United Battlefront ahead of schedule, and what United Battlefront provides is very valuable.
United Battlefront provides a great deal of card selection. Digging for hate pieces like Grafdigger’s Cage or Torpor Orb is especially important in games two and three.
United Battlefront is also one of your only sources of card advantage. Having more ways to rebuild post-Meltdown or Force of Vigor is nice.
United Battlefront is far from perfect in this shell. In some games, you’ll run into issues emptying your hand for Ensnaring Bridge if you get stuck with multiple copies of United Battlefront or Whir of Invention in hand.
Playing a white card in a deck with Whir of Invention and Thoughtseize is also not free, though Mox Opal, Spire of Industry, and Glimmervoid minimize this issue a lot. Nonetheless, the consistency United Battlefront gives the deck cannot be overstated.
Fighting Through Hate
United Battlefront certainly makes it easier to grind through hate, but you still need ways to disrupt your opponent so you don’t fall too far behind. In game one, Ensnaring Bridge is extremely useful versus Boros Energy, Izzet Prowess, and beyond. The issue is that these decks are bound to have more Artifact hate cards in their sideboards.
This is part of the reason you’ll find four copies of Inquisition of Kozilek in the sideboard. Inquisition hits nearly everything Thoughtseize would in those types of matchups, and not taking damage compared to Thoughtseize can be the difference between winning and losing. Extra discard spells comes in handy versus combo strategies like Ruby Storm, too.
It’s a bit interesting to not see any copies of Fatal Push or Consign to Memory in the sideboard, though. Boros Energy makes use of a lot of small Creatures and is fully capable of racing an Ensnaring Bridge in some games if you don’t interact earlier.
With regards to Consign to Memory, a resolved Karn, the Great Creator is bad news. Pithing Needle doesn’t stop the static ability from shutting off Codex Shredder and Get Lost doesn’t prevent your opponent from searching up an elite Artifact from their sideboard. Consign counters problematic colorless spells like Karn, Thought-Knot Seer, and even Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger just fine.
Lantern Control as a whole is capable of putting up results from time to time, especially with Mox Opal back and thriving. It’s not the dominant force it used to be but can be a fine metacall at the FNM level. If you’ve been waiting for an excuse to dust off your Lanterns and Shredders, go ahead and give the deck a shot.
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