More and more, Planeswalkers are beginning to define how formats are played. The most important cards are the most powerful Planeswalkers — the best way to accrue advantage turn after turn. Modern is the one format where that doesn’t see to be true. The only Planeswalkers that see substantial play in Modern are Liliana of the Veil, Nahiri the Harbinger, and Karn Liberated. This is largely because Modern is more concerned about efficiency rather than power or card advantage. We’ve seen a handful of attempts at whacky Doubling Season shenanigans, but nothing that really tried to grind out games with Planeswalkers. Perhaps this list could change that:

Four-Color Unexpected Results ? Modern | SaffronOlive

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Birds of Paradise
• 4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

• Planeswalkers (12)
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
• 2 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• 2 Nissa, Vital Force
• 2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 Farseek
• 4 Unexpected Results
• 4 Bring to Light

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Aid from the Cowl

• Lands (22)
• 3 Forest
• 2 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Creeping Corrosion
• 1 Crumble to Dust
• 3 Gisela, the Broken Blade
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
• 3 Baral's Expertise
• 1 Keranos, God of Storms
• 1 Bruna, the Fading Light

Buy This Deck

But why wait until you hit 8 mana to start casting gigantic threats? Most Modern decks certainly aren’t going to let you sit around and generate value. The speed of this deck comes from two key cards: Unexpected Results and Aid from the Cowl, with Bring to Light serving as additional copies of your power plays. The idea here is that Unexpected Results will either hit mana or Planeswalkers. If you’re hitting mana sources, you either rebuy Unexpected Results or thin your deck for the next copy. If you’re hitting Planeswalkers, you get to start generating extra cards and buy yourself more time.

Aid from the Cowl is a really interesting card in a format with fetchlands. There are only eight cards in the maindeck that are non-permanents which means that this ability to will mostly just put the top card of your deck into play. That’s fine when it’s a random creature, and great when it’s a free Planeswalker. That said, the card you’re really hoping to hit off of both Aid from the Cowl and Unexpected Results is Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. While the midrangey Planeswalker plan is a fine way to trump opposing midrange decks, Emrakul is what gives this deck any chance of keeping up with the unfair decks in the format.

It’s also worth noting that Bring to Light means that this deck gets substantially better after sideboarding. You get to play single copies of powerful cards like Crumble to Dust and Creeping Corrosion while still getting consistent access to those high-impact effects. If you’re looking to try a powerful Planeswalker deck that has enough raw power and versatility to fight against the rest of the format, this may be the best shell to do it in.