Help me make this deck better for Modern (BW Control)

[Tiago_B.]

So i want to make this deck suitable for local Modern tournments, nothing too good, just enough to not suck.

I cant spend a lot of cash, i dont know the latest editions very well, nor the most common lists in the format. Meaning, im a noob in modern, and ive been away some time from MTG.



// Lands
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Marsh Flats
4 Orzhov Guildgate
6 Swamp
6 Plains

// Creatures
4 Wall of Hope
2 Exalted Angel
2 Avatar of Woe
2 Goldenglow Moth
2 Tombstalker
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

// Spells
2 Damnation
2 Wrath of God
2 Duress
2 Smother
4 Oblivion Ring
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Dismember


I think i will have to replace most of the creatures. For which ones, no clue. The point of the deck is to control the board and survive until i start dropping big hitters (compared to some of the recent editions these seem kinda underwhelming honestly lol). But that could change as well, and i could use stuff like Tidehollow Sculler, Serra Avenger, Jotun Grunt, or some beater like Abyssal Persecutor (an ideia that i like a lot) and just pack a ton of single target removal or discard.

Any ideias or advice? Anything at all will be greatly appreciated.

[JPoJohnson]

Swords to Plowshares isn't Modern legal. You'll need to swap that for Path to Exile

[Asthereal]

Second to the Path to Exiles.
Other than that, I have the following tips.

Lands
Gates and Evolving Wilds are bad because they slow you down (enters the battlefield tapped). I'd replace them with:
- The fourth Marsh Flats
- Full playset of Isolated Chapels (pretty good as the second land to play)
21-22 lands seems the correct number.

Creatures
Exalted Angels are not Modern legal. They will have to go. Also, you play a couple of 7-8 CMC guys, who are just too expensive. In a competitive environment, you just cannot sit there and wait, hoping the opponent will allow you ten turns to draw into lands and then cast Akroma or an Avatar. Believe me when I say they will just use the sledge hammer on your board position and your life total. Faster 'bomb'-like creatures you should try instead of the 7-8 mana costing guys can be:
- Baneslayer Angel
- More Tombstalkers

You also have a couple of walls and blockers than can gain you life. Problem with those is that they don;t do anything if your opponent isn't attacking. Also, gaining four life is just not enough. Fast aggro will just attack again with Tarmogoyfand the life you gained is gone again, but their Goyf is still out there, while your life gaining card is used up. Not an ideal trade-off. If you play a Wall, it should at least replace itself. Wall of Omens springs to mind. It may suck against decks that don't attack with small guys, but at least it draws into a fresh, hopefully more relevant, card. There are also other creatures that can help:
- Deathrite Shaman (needs more fetchlands to work well, but it's just a very good card)
- Tidehollow Sculler (good against decks with little creature removal)
- Dark Confidant (draws you cards - keep in mind though that thius guy combines badly with cards like Tombstalker!)

Spells
I will just post a list of interesting spells you can use here:
- Lingering Souls (good for stalling games)
- Thoughtseize (better than Inquisition, since you can take whatever you want)
- Go for the Throat (pretty decent creature removal spell)
- Liliana of the Veil (controls the board nicely)
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant (supplements creatures well, protects itself, great card overall)

In general, when you create a deck, you should always try to keep in mind the following things:
1. Mana curve (turn 1 I play this, turn 2 that, turn 3 that, and so on - bad curve means you have turns you cannot do anything in, which results in losing games)
2. Every dangerous strategy should have its answer in your deck. Always look at what could be dangerous for you, and make sure you can stop it. Discard stops decks that use a combination of cards to do sick things on turn 3, and can remove good control spells, which will clear the way for your own creatures. Removal spells help kill opposing guys. Make sure the balance in your deck is right, so you have removal and discard when you need it, but not an abundance of once thing while you are in need of the other.
3. Every card in your deck should have a purpose, and preferably more than one. Tidehollow Sculler is a nice example of that. It can attack the opponents life total, and it removes a dangerous card from his hand. Dark Confidant is another, though it's doubtful whether you want to play him in this deck. But you get the point. Play cards that help your strategy, or disrupt the opponent's strategy, and make sure you have enough cards that can win you the game.

Money will of course be an issue, but looking at what you are trying to achieve, I'd go for something like this:

Lands
4 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Arid Mesa
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Godless Shrine (you can fetch this up with Arid Mesa or Verdant Catacombs - beware of the life loss though!)
4 Swamp
3 Plains /21

Creatures
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Tombstalker
3 Baneslayer Angel /18

Spells
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
2 Go for the Throat
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant /21

Sideboard (a selection of these cards should be fine)
2-4 Damnation
2-4 Duress
3 Surgical Extraction
2-3 Pithing Needle
and some slots to fill with cards against what you know they will play at your local tournament.
I'm no expert on Modern, so I cannot say for sure what other cards will be good.

If anyone else has good additions, be sure to post them. This list is by no means sacred. :wink:

[Teluin]

This is under Budget people.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

This is under Budget people.

Asthereal's list is nice. If you wish to save some money, then you may cut Thoughtseizes (and use e.g. Castigate instead), cut few fetchlands and basics (and use the WB painlands instead), cut Lilianas (and use some mix of discard, creatures and removal instead, e.g. Gatekeeper of Malakir) and finally cut Elspeth and use Lingering Souls.
Some strong, cheap and useful equipment could be good too. Swords of X and Y are maybe too expensive for your budget, hopefully you'll find some alternative. Basilisk Collar?

EDIT: Sadly, there's no alternative for Deathrite... Also the big flyers are cheap moneywise, don't they?

So I looked up some cards and was a bit surprised with the cost of an Angel. What about this?

Lands
4 Marsh Flats
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Godless Shrine (you can fetch this up - beware of the life loss though!)
4 Swamp
3 Plains /20

Creatures
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Tombstalker
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Baneslayer Angel /20

Spells
3 Castigate
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
2 Go for the Throat
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Basilisk Collar you lose much life with this deck, this could help.
3 Lingering Souls /20

Sideboard (a selection of these cards should be fine)
2-4 ???
2-4 Duress
3 Surgical Extraction
2-3 Pithing Needle

[Tiago_B.]

That last post helped a lot.

I already own the majority of the cards, just lacking the Baneslayers, Deathrite Shamans, Isolated Chapels, and a some other minor stuff like PoE and Basillisk Collar. So, not too hard to get.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

That last post helped a lot.

I already own the majority of the cards, just lacking the Baneslayers, Deathrite Shamans, Isolated Chapels, and a some other minor stuff like PoE and Basillisk Collar. So, not too hard to get.

I just realized something: you want fetches for DRS and you don't want to waste your money on unneeded stuff. So, I'd go -4 Caves of K. +4 borrowed fetchlands... :-)