This article isn’t a tournament report though. It’s about the deck I played and what changes I would make to it moving forward. My take on Jeskai Control went a little larger than traditional builds. I played Torrential Gearhulks, Search for Azcanta, and Glimmer of Genius. I easily beat every midrange deck and I beat every Death's Shadow deck I played against. decks like Jund just can’t overcome the card advantage you have in the mid-late game, even if they tear your hand apart. Same with Death's Shadow but you also have Supreme Verdicts, Path to Exile, and Celestial Purges after sideboarding. Let’s go ahead and look at the list I played.

Jeskai Control ? Modern | Ali Aintrazi

• Creatures (3)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 2 Torrential Gearhulk

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

• Instants (25)
• 1 Secure the Wastes
• 1 Think Twice
• 2 Electrolyze
• 2 Glimmer of Genius
• 2 Mana Leak
• 3 Lightning Bolt
• 3 Lightning Helix
• 3 Logic Knot
• 4 Cryptic Command
• 4 Path to Exile

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Supreme Verdict

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Search for Azcanta

• Lands (25)
• 1 Plains
• 3 Island
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Desolate Lighthouse
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Glacial Fortress
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Scalding Tarn
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 3 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 1 Soulfire Grand Master
• 2 Rule of Law
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 2 Ceremonious Rejection
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Wear // Tear
• 1 Keranos, God of Storms

Buy This Deck

I really enjoyed this list. It was powerful against any grindy deck with hand disruption or decks that wanted the game to go longer. Torrential Gearhulk is a great creature because it turns the corner very quickly and it’s also great at jumping in front of creatures like Reality Smasher and eating them up. People sometimes expected a Torrential Gearhulk but they never saw the second one coming. Glimmer of Genius was another card that got a few questioned looks throughout the weekend but it’s power was undeniable. If you thought Torrential Gearhulk into Glimmer of Genius was powerful in Standard, just imagine it in Modern.

Nahiri Vs Ajani Vengeant

Ajani has been the go to for all the Jeskai Control decks. Most of them play a single Ajani Vengeant. I found Nahiri, the Harbinger to be the superior Planeswalker overall. She is harder to kill when she upticks while filtering your hand late game of dead cards or lands. She also exiles that tapped Tarmogoyf or Reality Smasher instead of just keeping it tapped. She’ll also sang random enchantments throughtout the day like Blood Moons, Spreading Seas, Leyline of the Void, Bitterblossom, Leyline of Sanctity, Eidolon of the Great Revel, and whatever other enchantments you might run into. Snagging something like Codex Shredder against Lantern Control works too. Nahiri also ultimates quicker than Ajani Vengeant. You won’t be able to get an Emrakul but getting a Torrential Gearhulk will end the game just fine, especially since it goes back to your hand at the end of turn, so you can just use its ETB ability again on your opponent’s turn.

The Flaws

Don’t get me wrong, I love this deck but it has some flaws. A resolved Geist of Saint Traft can be difficult to deal with. Traditional Tron is another uphill battle, even if they don’t have Eye of Ugin. The deck can have some awkward opening hand with two lands, Search for Azcanta, and some countermagic. You’re forced to play Search for Azcanta to hit land drops and even then, you aren’t guaranteed to hit them. Search for Azcanta was amazing all weekend but three is just one too many. Even though I hate Serum Visions, it does help us hit land drops early and it protects spells against Thoughtseize mid to late game. It’s a necessary evil, that or at the very least, Opt.

Let’s see if we can solve the Geist of Saint Traft problem a little bit while also adding some Serum Visions to smooth out opening hands to get us to the mid-late game where we can really shine.

Jeskai Control Updates ? Modern | Ali Aintrazi

• Creatures (3)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 2 Torrential Gearhulk

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nahiri, the Harbinger

• Spells (31)
• 1 Blessed Alliance
• 1 Mana Leak
• 1 Secure the Wastes
• 1 Think Twice
• 2 Electrolyze
• 2 Glimmer of Genius
• 2 Lightning Bolt
• 2 Lightning Helix
• 3 Logic Knot
• 4 Cryptic Command
• 4 Path to Exile
• 3 Serum Visions
• 3 Supreme Verdict
• 2 Search for Azcanta

• Lands (25)
• 1 Plains
• 3 Island
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Desolate Lighthouse
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Glacial Fortress
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Scalding Tarn
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 3 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 2 Spell Queller
• 1 Rule of Law
• 1 Runed Halo
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 1 Ceremonious Rejection
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Blessed Alliance
• 1 Wear // Tear
• 1 Keranos, God of Storms

Buy This Deck

As for the Sideboard, I’ve made a split with Rule of Law and Runed Halo. Halo is still solid against Storm decks but is also good elsewhere, like Infect, Death's Shadow, Valakit, and other random decks. Spell Queller is competing with Vendillion Clique. I’m still not quite sure which one I want in my Sideboard. In theory Spell Queller is equally as good as Vendillion Clique against Geist of Saint Traft. It can be flashed to counter the Geist or flashed to jump in front of him and kill him. It’s important to note that it kills Geist and doesn’t trade like Clique would. Against Storm I think Spell Queller is just as good as Vendillion Clique if not better. Even against Collected Company decks, Spell Queller is the better answer. We are not trying to combo, so we don’t really need to know the contents of our opponent’s hand, therefore I like Spell Queller more here. The down side is that Spell Queller isn’t as aggressive as Vendillion Clique. Vendillion Clique also has the benefit of filtering out our hand since we can target ourselves with its ability. Again, in theory, I think Spell Queller is better suited here but I will only know for sure after testing it more.

Well there you have it. I’ve been talking about this deck for a while now, but I figured I’d put out an article solely on the deck and the changes I would make going forward. I’m always working on it and it’s always changing. You must for a control deck to remain relevant in Modern. If you play this deck in a tournament or if you want my most recent list hit me up on social media or here in the comments and I’ll share the deck with you. I’m always down to talk about control in Modern.

Well, that’s all for today folks. Go eat some left-over thanksgiving pie before FNM or whatever tournament you’re playing in. Until next Friday!

Thanks for reading,

Ali Aintrazi

@AliEldrazi