Right now, control decks appear to be on the rise in Modern. Spreading Seas and Supreme Verdict are great cards in the format right now, and we’re seeing a number of different takes on this style of deck. At this point, most of those are the counterspell-based control decks featuring Mana Leak, Remand, or Logic Knot alongside Cryptic Command to fight combo decks. However, if you’re expecting more of a creature-oriented metagame, there’s another option:

Blue-White Midrange - Modern | JB2002, 5-0 Modern League

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Dragonlord Ojutai
• 2 Restoration Angel
• 2 Vendilion Clique
• 4 Kitchen Finks
• 4 Wall of Omens

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Gideon Jura

• Instants (9)
• 1 Pact of Negation
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 2 Spell Snare
• 4 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Supreme Verdict

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Gideon's Intervention
• 1 Leyline of Sanctity
• 2 Detention Sphere
• 4 Spreading Seas

• Lands (25)
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo Castle
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 4 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Field of Ruin
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Mystic Gate

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage
• 2 Negate
• 4 Rest in Peace
• 2 Stony Silence
• 1 Supreme Verdict

Buy This Deck

Restoration Angel is one of the most powerful cards in this deck purely because of how flexible it is. You can flicker everything from Wall of Omens to Kitchen Finks, all while threatening to ambush your opponent’s creatures mid-combat. Another powerful card in this deck is Dragonlord Ojutai, which is both a fast clock and a card advantage engine. However, the strength of Ojutai in this deck is in how easy it is to protect. With cards like Restoration Angel and Minamo, School at Water's Edge, you can easily protect Ojutai from removal spells and continue to pressure your opponent.

If you’re looking for more of a proactive take on control that combines the ability to play counterspells with efficient creatures, this might be a good place to start. Unlike other decks, this one can combine Kitchen Finks, Vendilion Clique, and Restoration Angel to apply fast pressure to opponents, sometimes while leaving up the likes of Cryptic Command. This means that you can win games other control decks can’t because you can apply pressure early in the game and without letting your shields down.