B.L.A.S.T. (GB Lantern)

[Mr. Safety]

Bridge
Lantern
Ashiok
STirrings

This idea came from theoretical discussion over in the Pox thread about developing a hybrid of Lantern Control from Modern combined with Legacy Pox. The fundamental weakness of Pox has always been opponent's top-decks, which can't be dealt with at sorcery speed. A couple of new cards have really provided some interesting interactions that could possibly merge Lantern with Pox.

Ensnaring Bridge is a powerful magic card to build around, provided there is enough support amongst the rest of the deck to keep it on the battlefield. This means right from the start, this deck doesn't really want to win with combat. Another friend tagging along from Pox is Cursed Scroll, something that is a slow win condition but doesn't need combat. Bitterblossom can provide chump blockers and allow evasive attacks on our own turn, before playing out our top-decked card.

Ashiok, Dream Render has become an addition to recent Pox-like control decks that offers a lot of value to this deck. It prevents opponents from using fetchlands and it prevents library tutoring of any kind including Intuition, Infernal Tutor, Wishclaw Talisman, Enlightened Tutor, Imperial Recruiter, Recruiter of the Guard, Crop Rotation, Knight of the Reliquary, Elvish Reclaimer, Goblin Matron, and many others. Ashiok's ability is also very useful as another milling tool to utilize alongside Lantern to prevent valuable top-decks from opponents. Lastly, and certainly not least, is Ashiok's ability to exile graveyards after activation. This provides supplementary value in game one against Dredge, Gurmag Angler, Reanimator strategies, and Snapcaster Mage. This deck is almost as much an Ashiok deck as it is an Ensnaring Bridge deck, its so valuable as a lynchpin.

Cursed Scroll has become the de-facto win condition that can operate under Ensnaring Bridge. It can deal with problematic small creatures, but more often it's just a simple 2 damage a turn to the opponent to close games out. It is slow, similar to Pox speed where it the idea came from, but not so slow as to cause problems. Recently I've moved up to 3 copies so it will be naturally drawn or nabbed with Stirrings more often. I found many times Wishclaw Talisman was fetching the Scroll, which seemed silly, so I just cut out the middle man and added more copies.

Ancient Stirrings has tons of legacy potential, but is overshadowed by the blue cantrips. In this deck it digs deeper than any of the 1-mana blue cantrips and finds exactly what we always want: Ensnaring Bridge, Lantern of Insight, mill-rocks, Cursed Scroll, and lands. It has seen some play in Post decks, but this deck really benefits from it's dig power. So far it has given the deck a high level of consistency.

Traditional elements in black and green are also included, not only for supporting the overall plan but also doing the best job in these particular colors. Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay great disruptive pieces that will help round out the deck. Sylvan Library is just pure value, especially when Ensnaring Bridge is holding opponent's up from winning the game. Your life total is then easier to use as a source of extra cards.

Utility lands are part of the mix currently as just one copy of Castle Locthwain. As I test further there may be opportunities to try other lands in that slot such as Maze of Ith, Karakas, Mishra's Factory, and Ghost QuarterGhost Quarter. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is a non-budget addition that could help boost some matchups, if available.

A short note about Mox Opal: it doesn't allow extra mana on turn 1, and sometimes doesn't become active even on turn 2. It's enticing to try it in a deck with so many artifacts, but ironically there just aren't enough artifacts that fit the strategy to enable it. Dark Ritual allows for fast Ashioks and Bridges, two of the most important cards in the deck. Dark Ritual also serves as a mana boost even in the late game by helping to activate Codex Shredder's Regrowth ability. This synergy also negates the need for a blue splash to enable Academy Ruins. Wrapping up the Mox Opal thread is the fact that the game goes so long that hitting land drops isn't an issue. I'd rather just have enough lands to reliably make the deck work. Dark Ritual gets the nod for allowing for combinations of t1 plays that are much more akin to the power level of legacy.

This is budget-friendly and still powerful. My background has always been budget-oriented, trying to do the most with the least. I am excited to have another deck available that starts from a foundation of Turbo Depths. Most of the cards in here are affordable, making it a small jump to take your Verdant Catacombs, Bayous, and Thoughtsiezes and port them over to the other side of the combat coin. Rather than attacking once with a 20/20 you're preventing almost all attacks with a 3-mana artifact. Rather than winning in just a few turns you are looking to go into the late game. That's a consideration for this deck: running out of time. So far I haven't seen any big issues, as long as I keep things moving. Once your hand is empty (happens pretty fast) it becomes all about managing the battlefield and top of the deck. It shouldn't take more time than poring over card plays in hand. Keep your opponent honest in paper matches so they don't eat up the clock during a match.

So here's the list, and it's feeling pretty good!

Updated: 7/9/2020 (updated with Collective Brutality/Maelstrom Pulse maindeck)


Artifacts - 18
4x Lantern of Insight
4x Codex Shredder
4x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Ghoulcaller’s Bell
2x Pithing Needle
2x Cursed Scroll

Dig/Fast Mana - 10
4x Ancient Stirrings
2x Sylvan Library
4x Dark Ritual

Disruption - 9
4x Thoughtseize
2x Collective Brutality
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Maelstrom Pulse

Planeswalkers/Utility - 5
3x Ashiok, Dream Render
2x Surgical Extraction

Lands - 18
3x Wasteland
1x buried ruin
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Marsh Flats
1x Windswept Heath
1x polluted delta
1x Bayou
2x Blooming Marsh
2x Swamp
2x Forest

Sideboard
2x Veil of Summer
2x Bitterblossom
2x Choke
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
3x Hymn to Tourach
3x OPEN (need to address Burn and Storm)


Suggestions and discussion welcome!