This is the coolest deck ever because it was never intended to be a deck. WOTC did not intentionally create it. And it's not a collection of powerful cards without synergy like in a classic Jund list. It's a brewer's dream of junk all rolled together and the sum is so much greater than its parts.
Well said. Competitive magic is way more fun when people just come up with some goofy stuff, wizards now a days just pushes everything and it makes me feel like the heart of the game is kinda gone
@@_jordaank_4970 I would maybe agree insofar at a push to sculpting standard, but they don't test for non rotating formats so it's a free for all in that regard. I don't think simply printing broken cards would immediately design non-rotating decks, there are lots of broken cards that wait to be relevant and wax and wane with a meta. I don't know if wotc always knows how broken or oppressive things can be a la classic Oko
Honestly never realised how creepy Lantern's art was until this video had the art blown up so much! Had no idea those were eyes... I just assumed the flavour text was about the eyes of the holder and other people!!
Back in 2005 or 2006 I bought the "Dimir Intrigues" theme deck for Ravnica: City of Guilds, which was a mill control deck with two copies of Wizened Snitches, which made each player play with the top card of their library revealed. I quickly realized that Wizened Snitches was my best draw despite otherwise being a very inefficient body, so I added Lantern of Insight to the deck and some additional artifacts that let me mill my opponent, like Millstone, and cards that allowed me to make my opponent shuffle. I wasn't into competitive play back then, but the deck was so consistent that my friends banned me from playing the deck in casual play. Among my friend group, it was never defeated and I still have it. Of course, the competitive Modern deck list turns this up to 11, and my deck list doesn't compare to the power of that deck, but I was so excited when I first heard that there was a whole archetype named after Lantern of Insight. Lantern of Insight brings back a lot of nostalgia for me.
I'm sure your top ten videos probably get the most views, but I think the history videos, and the archetype guide for limited sets, are where you do your best work. I was wondering what you would do once you caught up to the present for the history of the banlist and these deck histories have been great. Keep up the content.
I'd say, the coolest thing Lanter has going for it is that our lord and torturer Hidetaka Miyazaki was so impressed with lantern and it's art, he made a game about lanterns and insight. The game was called Bloodborne.
Love the deck. A couple things to add to and slightly correct the video: It also won a pro tour in the hands of Luis Salvatto in 2018, making it one of a relatively small number of decks in modern to place first in two major events (a GP and a Pro Tour). This is particularly notable given that it was never a substantial percentage of the meta. During those few years the deck was *very* good, at least in the right hands. Zac Elsik is a great player and was the first to see notable success with the deck in a major tournament, but he didn't invent the deck. There were a few parallel development streams happening as early as 2012 that you can find evidence of in forums and such with small groups workshopping lists very similar to what Zac would eventually pilot.
Worth noting that the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo also goes infinite with Urza, Lord High Artificer. Urza can tap the sword and the thopter for 2 mana, sacrifice the sword to create a thopter and bring the sword back. That gives an additional 1 life and 1 thopter and 1 blue mana, as well the untapped sword back. Repeat as needed for infinite life and thopters, or for infinite mana to use Urza's activated ability a bunch of times and cast most of your library.
Maybe a dumb idea, or a bit weird... but have you considered ever maybe contacting the people who created such decks in these deck histories? Maybe to put a short interview in the video, maybe that have interesting things to say about creating deck or just the tournament itself
@@crexalbo Even if they contacted me (zerodown) it would be a boring story... lol... I was just going through the artifact list trying to come up with a creatureless deck. When I got to Lantern of Insight something clicked in my mind and I instantly scrolled back up the list to Codex Shredder to confirm I had read its effect correctly. Once that combo was figured, I just kept adding 10 cent jank cards to the deck until it stuck together... lol Deck had 3 years by 2015 when Zac lay hands on it.
For a brief period in Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx I was piloting an admittedly janky Dimir deck in Standard. I would usually get torn up by efficient beatdown decks, but all of the sudden Courser of Kruphix was showing up in every green deck, keeping my opponents topdeck revealed. And because I was running Dimir right after Return to Ravnica, a bunch of my cards had incidental mill tacked on. So if I was playing against RG monsters, once the courser hit, I could often pull off Lantern-lite control, and starve them. Obviously relying on your opponent to give you an advantage has no chance of ever becoming a powerful deck in the meta. But for a brief moment my little janky deck had a surprisingly favorable match-up against what used to be its greatest enemy. (Mind you, I tied for first place once at my LGS as my highest achievement with that deck, but still)
I once piloted a mono red modern prison and used Dragon Hatchling. 0 power attacker swung under Bridge and got firebreathing. No one ever saw it coming.
One of my favorite decks from the casual high school days had a similar idea, only it played multiple Jester's Caps per turn. It basically won when I could say "there is now only land left in your deck, want to concede?" Good times!
Glad to see this deck history coming out! Lantern Control is the last T1 deck that I plan to build. It'll snuggle in nicely next to my Artifact based Mill deck. Only a few pieces left and my playgroup will never be the same!
Modern tier 1? Right... 😅 FWIW, you might want to proxy it up and see how it plays. The gameplay for a new player is pretty slow. It's a cool tactic, but realistically, you want to see how enjoyable it is to play. Enchantress, 8 rack, moon stompy / prison are other archetypes you might enjoy with a different flavor of gameplay.
@@nmnate Hey, appreciate the comment! I've already play-tested the deck quite a bit and have been enjoying it due to its unique style! I've played a number of other prison-style decks and this one really stood out to me as one I wanted to build! My group is kitchen table, so anything can have an opportunity to thrive with the right pieces.
@@malcolmolesen9993 Yeah I can understand that. Once you get a little more time with the deck you can start to appreciate the intricacies of the decision making process. I didn't quite enjoy playing 8-rack too much when we had a handful of limited decks to play against (kitchen table style), but with more decks to play against now, I'm appreciating the deck's discard decisions. Sometimes it's fun to play the flashy top-tier deck, but other times I'd rather play something with a more unique gameplan. Several budget decks have convinced me that I like how they play, so they'll get upgraded eventually. Probably going to take our mono-U mill deck into dimir colors as I find it pretty fun. We did the same with selesnya enchantress. Naya is pretty spicy with blood moon (we also have the parts to go 4 color for some variety).
while I have never directly played with or against Lantern Control, I feel a certain connection to it. I have always wondered about the origins of the deck, because I designed a lantern control deck (for a deck building challenge I was participating in at the time) a year before Zac won the Grand Prix with one. albeit a far less tuned version than he had. but I did have many of the same core cards.
There’s an older deck with this same strategy: Field of Dreams + Millstone + Urza’s Glasses. I’ve faced the deck while playing Old School Magic (‘93-‘94).
FYI, Lantern had an offshoot in Legacy played by Zac Elsik. It used the RIP + Force Field combo to lock out most possible ways of winning. It was always on the cusp of something good, but the cantrip cartel, aka Brainstorm and Ponder, really did a number on your chances of fully controlling an opponent's topdeck.
Elsik did try out a Legacy version of the deck at one point, you are correct. But there's little point to controlling card draw one card at a time with those powerful cantrips in the format.
@@crexalbo of course you'd be the one to reply here. LOL. You probably don't remember me (I use mistervader as my username in forums) but I see you in Lantern threads all the time, and you're one of the names I recognize as an authority on the deck.
Deck was created in 2012. It had 3 years before Zac lay hands on it by 2015. Its an insult to all the people at MtgSalvation who helped me create this deck by grinding at locals, testing and reporting for 3 years only to give Zac the merit because he was the first to win a tournament with it. Zac plays the deck masterfully, but he was no where to be seen during the deck's development.
0:45 - You can say it. They're bad. It's a Tier 1 deck completely full of bad cards (and also some discard spells). But somehow, when you put them together, it adds up to a good deck.
Man, your decoration is way to spooky. Almost spilled my coffee over my desk when clicked on the video just to see the French Dictionary. Terrifying...
Top 10 worst cards with more than X points in his system would be an interesting idea. The worst cards with any points would probably be a little underwhelming because it would mostly be old vanilla (or barely overstatted with outrageous downside) cards that were already bad then, but were needed to fill out a deck list because of the smaller card pool.
@@chrayez I'd say there would be quite a few sideboard cards. Plenty of bad cards are bad because they're very limited in what they do, and aren't universally useful, but they're good against the right decks, or cards.
Shame that there's been so few paper tournaments since MH2. Urza's Saga has been highly speculated to make this deck playable again. (People are seeing a fair bit of success with it on MTGO.)
This looks like the type of deck I would want to play if I were new to an area and I just wanted to piss off everyone right out of the gate. *mills card* So what's good to eat around here? *mills card* How long has this place been around? *mills card* Where all the hunnies at? *mills card
BRB making an Affinity aggro deck and calling it "Lanternless Control." Yes it's an entirely different deck that has nothing in common with Lantern Control at all, but I'm not playing Lanterns so ...
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This is the coolest deck ever because it was never intended to be a deck. WOTC did not intentionally create it. And it's not a collection of powerful cards without synergy like in a classic Jund list. It's a brewer's dream of junk all rolled together and the sum is so much greater than its parts.
Well said. Competitive magic is way more fun when people just come up with some goofy stuff, wizards now a days just pushes everything and it makes me feel like the heart of the game is kinda gone
@@_jordaank_4970 I would maybe agree insofar at a push to sculpting standard, but they don't test for non rotating formats so it's a free for all in that regard. I don't think simply printing broken cards would immediately design non-rotating decks, there are lots of broken cards that wait to be relevant and wax and wane with a meta. I don't know if wotc always knows how broken or oppressive things can be a la classic Oko
Ok I agree, but don’t disrespect my beloved Jund/Rock archetype.
It still takes balls to pilot it 😎
Jund is definitely good stuff.dec but to say it has no synergy is off
Bet you didnt know that (wotc didnt create it) was the case before Nizzahon point out no new card in Lantern Control
Lantern Control is a perfect example of a card needing just the right mad man to make it's true power known
Honestly never realised how creepy Lantern's art was until this video had the art blown up so much! Had no idea those were eyes... I just assumed the flavour text was about the eyes of the holder and other people!!
Back in 2005 or 2006 I bought the "Dimir Intrigues" theme deck for Ravnica: City of Guilds, which was a mill control deck with two copies of Wizened Snitches, which made each player play with the top card of their library revealed. I quickly realized that Wizened Snitches was my best draw despite otherwise being a very inefficient body, so I added Lantern of Insight to the deck and some additional artifacts that let me mill my opponent, like Millstone, and cards that allowed me to make my opponent shuffle. I wasn't into competitive play back then, but the deck was so consistent that my friends banned me from playing the deck in casual play. Among my friend group, it was never defeated and I still have it. Of course, the competitive Modern deck list turns this up to 11, and my deck list doesn't compare to the power of that deck, but I was so excited when I first heard that there was a whole archetype named after Lantern of Insight. Lantern of Insight brings back a lot of nostalgia for me.
You should build a Xanathar commander deck. I think you'll have a good time.
I'm sure your top ten videos probably get the most views, but I think the history videos, and the archetype guide for limited sets, are where you do your best work. I was wondering what you would do once you caught up to the present for the history of the banlist and these deck histories have been great. Keep up the content.
This is one of the most beautiful representations of a rogue deck. Weirdly, whenever I think of Lantern, I assume that it's a Kamigawa card.
I always think of Sensei's Divining Top, so maybe that's why
I'd say, the coolest thing Lanter has going for it is that our lord and torturer Hidetaka Miyazaki was so impressed with lantern and it's art, he made a game about lanterns and insight. The game was called Bloodborne.
Love the deck. A couple things to add to and slightly correct the video:
It also won a pro tour in the hands of Luis Salvatto in 2018, making it one of a relatively small number of decks in modern to place first in two major events (a GP and a Pro Tour). This is particularly notable given that it was never a substantial percentage of the meta. During those few years the deck was *very* good, at least in the right hands.
Zac Elsik is a great player and was the first to see notable success with the deck in a major tournament, but he didn't invent the deck. There were a few parallel development streams happening as early as 2012 that you can find evidence of in forums and such with small groups workshopping lists very similar to what Zac would eventually pilot.
Worth noting that the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo also goes infinite with Urza, Lord High Artificer. Urza can tap the sword and the thopter for 2 mana, sacrifice the sword to create a thopter and bring the sword back. That gives an additional 1 life and 1 thopter and 1 blue mana, as well the untapped sword back. Repeat as needed for infinite life and thopters, or for infinite mana to use Urza's activated ability a bunch of times and cast most of your library.
Maybe a dumb idea, or a bit weird... but have you considered ever maybe contacting the people who created such decks in these deck histories? Maybe to put a short interview in the video, maybe that have interesting things to say about creating deck or just the tournament itself
I think that is a solid idea
They likely did not. OP didn't even get the creator of the deck right, I doubt they care enough to do all that work.
@@crexalbo Even if they contacted me (zerodown) it would be a boring story... lol... I was just going through the artifact list trying to come up with a creatureless deck. When I got to Lantern of Insight something clicked in my mind and I instantly scrolled back up the list to Codex Shredder to confirm I had read its effect correctly. Once that combo was figured, I just kept adding 10 cent jank cards to the deck until it stuck together... lol
Deck had 3 years by 2015 when Zac lay hands on it.
For a brief period in Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx I was piloting an admittedly janky Dimir deck in Standard. I would usually get torn up by efficient beatdown decks, but all of the sudden Courser of Kruphix was showing up in every green deck, keeping my opponents topdeck revealed. And because I was running Dimir right after Return to Ravnica, a bunch of my cards had incidental mill tacked on. So if I was playing against RG monsters, once the courser hit, I could often pull off Lantern-lite control, and starve them.
Obviously relying on your opponent to give you an advantage has no chance of ever becoming a powerful deck in the meta. But for a brief moment my little janky deck had a surprisingly favorable match-up against what used to be its greatest enemy. (Mind you, I tied for first place once at my LGS as my highest achievement with that deck, but still)
The most beautiful deck to ever grace competitive MtG. Damn the Opal ban and damn Urzas saga
I once piloted a mono red modern prison and used Dragon Hatchling. 0 power attacker swung under Bridge and got firebreathing. No one ever saw it coming.
One of my favorite decks from the casual high school days had a similar idea, only it played multiple Jester's Caps per turn. It basically won when I could say "there is now only land left in your deck, want to concede?" Good times!
Glad to see this deck history coming out! Lantern Control is the last T1 deck that I plan to build. It'll snuggle in nicely next to my Artifact based Mill deck. Only a few pieces left and my playgroup will never be the same!
Modern tier 1? Right... 😅
FWIW, you might want to proxy it up and see how it plays. The gameplay for a new player is pretty slow. It's a cool tactic, but realistically, you want to see how enjoyable it is to play. Enchantress, 8 rack, moon stompy / prison are other archetypes you might enjoy with a different flavor of gameplay.
@@nmnate Hey, appreciate the comment! I've already play-tested the deck quite a bit and have been enjoying it due to its unique style! I've played a number of other prison-style decks and this one really stood out to me as one I wanted to build! My group is kitchen table, so anything can have an opportunity to thrive with the right pieces.
@@malcolmolesen9993 Yeah I can understand that. Once you get a little more time with the deck you can start to appreciate the intricacies of the decision making process. I didn't quite enjoy playing 8-rack too much when we had a handful of limited decks to play against (kitchen table style), but with more decks to play against now, I'm appreciating the deck's discard decisions. Sometimes it's fun to play the flashy top-tier deck, but other times I'd rather play something with a more unique gameplan. Several budget decks have convinced me that I like how they play, so they'll get upgraded eventually. Probably going to take our mono-U mill deck into dimir colors as I find it pretty fun. We did the same with selesnya enchantress. Naya is pretty spicy with blood moon (we also have the parts to go 4 color for some variety).
Pyxis was a great addition to it later to deal with Eldrazi’s shuffle ability.
Love this deck
The conception of this deck is what makes magic awesome. Creative and novel combinations that no one saw but were always there until it debuted.
Look up Mike Augustine pixy Stix. He did an inside the deck with coolstuff years before Zak Elsik where he explained adapting the deck from the rack.
while I have never directly played with or against Lantern Control, I feel a certain connection to it. I have always wondered about the origins of the deck, because I designed a lantern control deck (for a deck building challenge I was participating in at the time) a year before Zac won the Grand Prix with one. albeit a far less tuned version than he had. but I did have many of the same core cards.
There’s an older deck with this same strategy: Field of Dreams + Millstone + Urza’s Glasses. I’ve faced the deck while playing Old School Magic (‘93-‘94).
You should have mentioned lantern post mh2, urza's Saga has given the deck some new life
Wrenn and Six + Fetches is a great addition to the deck
FYI, Lantern had an offshoot in Legacy played by Zac Elsik. It used the RIP + Force Field combo to lock out most possible ways of winning. It was always on the cusp of something good, but the cantrip cartel, aka Brainstorm and Ponder, really did a number on your chances of fully controlling an opponent's topdeck.
Elsik did try out a Legacy version of the deck at one point, you are correct. But there's little point to controlling card draw one card at a time with those powerful cantrips in the format.
@@crexalbo of course you'd be the one to reply here. LOL. You probably don't remember me (I use mistervader as my username in forums) but I see you in Lantern threads all the time, and you're one of the names I recognize as an authority on the deck.
Lantern died for Urza's Sins.
To be fair, most things die for Urza's sins
Including himself.
Deck was created in 2012. It had 3 years before Zac lay hands on it by 2015. Its an insult to all the people at MtgSalvation who helped me create this deck by grinding at locals, testing and reporting for 3 years only to give Zac the merit because he was the first to win a tournament with it. Zac plays the deck masterfully, but he was no where to be seen during the deck's development.
There's not a top 8 deck I believe currently but there's another deck with urzas saga and emry that is interesting
Modern Horizons, the death of the Modern format, and the birth of some rotating monstrocitiy of a format.
0:45 - You can say it. They're bad. It's a Tier 1 deck completely full of bad cards (and also some discard spells). But somehow, when you put them together, it adds up to a good deck.
Man, your decoration is way to spooky. Almost spilled my coffee over my desk when clicked on the video just to see the French Dictionary. Terrifying...
One of the best troll decks, I love it.
As someone who has 1100 paper reps with Whir Lantern (RIP) it was by far the most fun I've had playing this game.
You should make a top 10 about “worst cards that saw play”
Top 10 worst cards with more than X points in his system would be an interesting idea.
The worst cards with any points would probably be a little underwhelming because it would mostly be old vanilla (or barely overstatted with outrageous downside) cards that were already bad then, but were needed to fill out a deck list because of the smaller card pool.
@@chrayez I'd say there would be quite a few sideboard cards. Plenty of bad cards are bad because they're very limited in what they do, and aren't universally useful, but they're good against the right decks, or cards.
Ensnaring Bridge and Bottled Cloister are such a tidy combo. Perfect synergy.
I love this deck, played it for a entire year and give both great and bad results.
I've never played modern
This is probably the only deck I want to play. It's so absurd
You didn’t mention Luis silvato pro tour win with lantern 😢
I blame the Mox Opal ban for the death of Lantern. It wasn't the same after and then the deck was just gone.
Whenever Lantern is relevant I tend to play a few weeks of modern.
So cool!
Shame that there's been so few paper tournaments since MH2. Urza's Saga has been highly speculated to make this deck playable again. (People are seeing a fair bit of success with it on MTGO.)
This looks like the type of deck I would want to play if I were new to an area and I just wanted to piss off everyone right out of the gate.
*mills card*
So what's good to eat around here?
*mills card*
How long has this place been around?
*mills card*
Where all the hunnies at?
*mills card
Every card can be useful in the right scenario. 😉
lol thoughtseize used to be a sorcery. should have stayed that way.
I'm brewing it with Psychogenic Probe
Wish me luck gentlemen.
Modern was so much better back then.
love the vid, but how can you not mention that this deck won a pro tour?
YOOO ITS REAL, THIS IS MY FAVOURITE DECK
The goal of Lantern Control deck, is to make your opponent never want to play magic again.
red prison please
Wand of Denial, dude. It existed in other formats...
Not sure what Wall of Denial has to do with Lantern Control, but uh...okay. it wasn't played in any meaningful version of the deck.
@@NizzahonMagic Wand of Denial is the full lantern combo... in one card. I use it in my Lantern commander deck. (Wand =/= Wall)
BRB making an Affinity aggro deck and calling it "Lanternless Control." Yes it's an entirely different deck that has nothing in common with Lantern Control at all, but I'm not playing Lanterns so ...