UPDATED LIST with Theros Beyond Death
Turns out the new enchantment-based set gave this deck a few new toys (go figure).
Enduring Ideal
CREATURES1
Heliod, God of the Sun
SPELLS4
Lotus Bloom4
Arcum's Astrolabe3
On Thin Ice
2
The Birth of Meletis1
Greater Auramancy
1
Omen of the Sea1
Peace of Mind3
Runed Halo1
Copy Enchantment1
Detention Sphere3
Ghostly Prison1
Phyrexian Unlife1
Story Circle3
Leyline of Sanctity1
Dovescape4
Enduring Ideal1
Form of the Dragon1
Overwhelming Splendor
LANDS4
Flooded Strand1
Hall of Heliod's Generosity1
Hallowed Fountain1
Mistveil Plains4
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx1
Snow-Covered Island7
Snow-Covered Plains4
Temple of Enlightenment
New sideboard addition/option:
Thryx, the Sudden Storm
I had been running a few copies of
Wall of Omens and a single
Spreading Seas prior to the release of THB. After some initial testing, I've replaced them with
The Birth of Meletis and
Omen of the Sea, respectively. My main criticism of this deck previously was that it needed better card filtering/selection. Since you want to tutor your powerful, game-winning enchantments directly onto the battlefield, you actively want to avoid drawing them. As such, general card draw effects are less desirable in this deck than they would be elsewhere. Nonetheless, there are cards you want to draw on the way to executing your endgame. Omen lets you scry before drawing, so you can tuck things like
Form of the Dragon safely on the bottom of your deck while you dig for what you need at the moment. As for Birth of Meletis, I was kind of skeptical, as I figured getting the immediate blocker from Wall of Omens was going to be better, but after a few games, I'm sold on Birth. This deck wants to hit its land drop every turn until an Ideal is resolved. Birth helps to ensure that and, since you actively want to draw lands while avoiding certain cards, Birth wins out. The delay on the arrival of the 0/4 wall is a bummer, but the life gain helps to offset that.
Thryx, the Sudden Storm is something I'm trying in the sideboard as an anti-control measure. My thought is that most control decks are likely to board out the majority of their creature removal. As such, having a threat that can be flashed in at the end of their turn which then prevents Ideal from being countered seems like a solid plan. Thryx also presents a pretty reasonable clock in his own right.
Modern seems to be in a bit of flux at the moment; in the wake of the recent bannings (Opal, Oko, & Lattice). I'm not sure if that helps Ideal as a strategy, but I don't think it hurts it. I do think that the Lattice ban likely reducing the number of
Karn, the Great Creator floating around is positive for us, as our
Lotus Blooms won't get randomly hosed, though I do still think Tron is a pretty bad matchup.