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Lantern's Light

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Lantern Control is one of the more polairizing decks in Modern. On the one hand, the deck is a brewer’s dream - one person figured it out, refined it, and used it to put up an incredible performance at a Grand Prix. On the other hand, it’s a deck that seeks to eliminate the opponent’s ability to interact in any meaningful way by locking them out of their draw step. That’s not exactly an interactive gameplan, which means that some players will love playing it and others will hate playing against it. So how has the archetype evolved with recent sets? Let’s take a look:


Lantern of Insight
A huge portion of this deck is relatively fixed. You need a high density of Ghoulcaller's Bells and Codex Shredders to go with your Lantern of Insights. This engine allows you some measure of control over both your opponent’s and your own draw steps, which means you can dig towards key removal spells or engine pieces while trying to deny your opponent their combo pieces and interactive elements. You’re going to play the full set of Ensnaring Bridges to shut off the combat step as well. You’re also going to want Ancient Stirrings as the most efficient cantrip, as well as a high density of discard and other efficient interaction.

That said, even with all those slots spoken for, there’s still some amount of flex slots available. Some people fill them with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek, Abrupt Decays, or even Leyline of Sanctity.

Jadoth opts instead to play Mishra's Bauble and Whir of Invention alongside a slew of exciting singletons. Whir of Invention gives you more redundancy with regards to your key artifacts, specifically Ensnaring Bridge and Lantern of Insight. This deck plays enough five-color lands that resolving a Whir won’t be particularly difficult, and the high density of cheap artifacts means you’ll be able to cast it for enough to find whatever you need relatively early in the game. So what other kinds of targets did Jadoth add? Rather than Leyline of Sanctity, you have Whir of Invention for Witchbane Orb, which plays better with your Academy Ruins anyway. Additionally, you’ve got a singleton Grafdigger's Cage as well as Engineered Explosives to go find, and even Nihil Spellbomb and Executioner's Capsule out of the sideboard.

If you enjoy preventing any of your opponent’s cards from mattering, Lantern Control is a very reasonable deck to play in Modern - so long as you’re comfortable just losing to cards like Stony Silence and Shatterstorm. The addition of a Whir of Invention toolbox means that you’ve got more redundancy for key cards, but less ability to interact with your opponent’s gameplan. Both approaches have their advantages, but it’s always exciting to see that there are interesting alternatives.


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