Modern is in an interesting pace right now that’s fundamentally different than most other metagame compositions we’ve ever seen. Death's Shadow variants are the best decks in the format, and those decks are vulnerable in a number of ways, particularly to cheap removal like Fatal Push as well as chip damage from cards like Lightning Bolt and creature lands. Additionally, with the Devoted Druid combo on the rise, creature lands being relatively underplayed, and only some Death's Shadow variants playing Stubborn Denial, sweepers besides Supreme Verdict seem to be a reasonable place to be for the first time I can remember. All these things combine to give us this awesome take on the format:

Blue-Black Control - Modern | Panoma, 5-0 Modern League

• Creatures (4)
• 2 Grave Titan
• 2 Snapcaster Mage

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Jace, Architect of Thought

• Instants (17)
• 1 Dismember
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Logic Knot
• 1 Spell Snare
• 2 Think Twice
• 3 Cryptic Command
• 4 Fatal Push
• 4 Mana Leak

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Damnation
• 4 Serum Visions

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Spreading Seas

• Lands (25)
• 2 Swamp
• 5 Island
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Watery Grave
• 3 Creeping Tar Pit
• 3 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Tectonic Edge

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Hero's Downfall
• 1 Spell Snare
• 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 2 Negate
• 2 Vendilion Clique
• 4 Collective Brutality
• 4 Nihil Spellbomb

Buy This Deck

Mana Leak is the second card I want to highlight. Sure, we all know how good Mana Leak is, but when’s the last time you saw four Mana Leaks in a Modern deck over something like Remand? With every deck trying to be low to the ground, Mana Leak is a great pick. Sure, everyone can play around Mana Leak once they know that’s your counterspell of choice, but when they do so, they’re giving you all the time you need to cast your Think Twices and hit land drops. Do you really care if you use a Mana Leak or a Fatal Push on that Death's Shadow? Is your opponent really going to wait to hit 7 mana to cast their Collected Company?

There’s even more upside to being just straight . With Damnation being a fine sweeper and Lightning Bolt not being particularly good against Tarmogoyf, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, and Death's Shadow, you don’t need to touch White for Supreme Verdict or Red. This means a couple of interesting things. First, you don’t have to take as much damage from your lands, which may seem small, but certainly adds up. Being able to cast Cryptic Command on turn four or five painlessly and consistently is huge in this kind of format. This also means you have space for a bunch of Creeping Tar Pits, which do a great job of letting you steal games from Death's Shadow.

All in all, if you’re interested in playing a pure control deck in this format, I think this is a great place to start. Black removal is at an all time high, Spreading Seas is very good, and there aren’t things that really require you to splash additional colors, so Cryptic Command is stellar right now. A deck with efficient answers to the threats out of Death's Shadow all the way up the curve and a mana base that means you can take an extra hit from one of their creatures? Seems good to me.