Hey, everyone!

I started my quest to find a deck I enjoy playing once Eldrazi is gone—I’m working ahead of the banned-and-restricted-list updates because the deck is too dominant to continue existing. U/R/W Control decks are up my alley, so that was naturally where I began. They can be controlling against creature decks, but they have enough burn against combo, which makes it great in an open field.

The biggest fault of Modern control decks is their inability to pivot in bad matchups. When you play Esper Control in Modern, there may be great matchups, but you need to prepare for them ahead of time. If you face a random deck, it may crush you since the cards need to be interacted with specifically. This is why American Control decks have been historically more successful than Esper Control. I also want to be able to close a round in ten minutes if I have to. As tournament attendance increases at Grand Prix and SCG Opens, the number of rounds does not; every year, it seems you need better records to Top 8, making draws worse.

Geist of Saint Traft is a card I tend to avoid because it locks me into a tempo-style deck. Despite being able to do well in Constructed events, success eludes me when I play decks like Delver and Merfolk. My comfort zone lies with decks that play semi-aggressively and I’m not sad if the game goes long.

Here’s an example of a traditional build of Team Geist:

Team Geist ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (16)
• 1 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 3 Restoration Angel
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Keranos, God of Storms
• 3 Vendilion Clique
• 4 Geist of Saint Traft

• Spells (19)
• 3 Electrolyze
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Remand

• Lands (25)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Island
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Arid Mesa
• 2 Ghost Quarter
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 3 Flooded Strand
• 3 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Celestial Colonnade
• 1 Eiganjo Castle

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This deck is chock-full of great Modern staples: Lightning Bolt, Lightning Helix, Path to Exile, Remand, Snapcaster Mage, and so on. I don’t think decks like this are best at winning with Geist because it’s surrounded by creatures without hexproof. Why play a card as elusive as Geist when you put him alongside Vendilion Clique and Restoration Angel? Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile are fine against this deck for no reason. Thundermaw Hellkite also dies to Path to Exile; why are there so many things that deal damage? An uncontested Geist is usually good enough to win in a couple turns; we always have Celestial Colonnade as a backup, too.

I have made innovations to plenty of popular decks in the past, and most of them involve me sticking to a couple of principles:

• Play good cards: They should be able to hold up on their own. Don’t rely too heavily on synergy. If you have to play with a specific game plan it makes you more likely to mulligan. I want to be able to keep hands with lands and spells as often as possible.
• Take the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup approach: If you don’t like the existing decks, take two things you like, and smash their best attributes together. The artists, White Panda, have made an entire career off this idea.

With these two golden rules in mind, I made a mashup of Team Geist and W/U Planeswalker Control. What if I don’t focus on resolving a quick Geist and win the game when I get to it? At the same time, I’m able to win quickly against bad matchups and combo strategies.

Here’s what I came up with:

#TeamRedPanda ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 4 Geist of Saint Traft

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 2 Gideon Jura

• Spells (25)
• 1 Dispel
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 2 Electrolyze
• 3 Remand
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Serum Visions
• 1 Detention Sphere

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Island
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Steam Vents
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Eiganjo Castle

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Runed Halo
• 1 Wrath of God
• 2 Pyroclasm
• 2 Dispel
• 3 Stony Silence
• 1 Negate
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Ajani Vengeant

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This deck was smooth as butter. I went 4–0, beating some of the better Modern players in my area along the way. There were a total of zero mulligans, and I also didn’t drop a game. Serum Visions let me play twenty-four lands in a deck full of expensive Planeswalkers. I can also keep land-light hands because the scrying can bail me out. At the same time, I didn’t ever feel that I was flooding out because I could close a late game with Celestial Colonnade.

Elspeth can grant Geist +3/+3 and flying, so it can attack freely against Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence. Remember that Spellskite is able to redirect the pump ability to itself, as it can target any creature on the battlefield. The ability to make a 1/1 is still very powerful against decks with Liliana of the Veil and can kill very quickly. I like making opponents sweat over Snapcaster Mage, as it becomes a 5/4 with flying out of nowhere.

Cryptic Command is a hard counter, which is always great in a field as diverse as Modern. It’s just a very powerful card, and making the tap-all-creatures-opponents-control mode relevant is very nice. I have enough blue sources to flash it back with Snapcaster Mage, too.

The sweeper effects were awkward in the sideboard because they all killed my Geist. I would prefer to kill creatures with one-for-one removal and attack in the future.

Runed Halo is a unique card in Modern, and I really like it. Here are some of the decks that don’t want to face this card:

Infect: I have a great matchup versus this deck already, but this is icing on the cake. Glistener Elf is the least scary threat because it can be blocked by Snapcaster Mage. You can give yourself protection from Inkmoth Nexus or Blighted Agent, and the opponent can’t protect against it from Vines of Vastwood. The opponent only has twelve infect creatures, so this will shut down a third of his or her infect win conditions. Don’t be too comfortable and let the opponent kill you with regular damage via Noble Hierarch, Spellskite, or Dryad Arbor.

Storm: You can give yourself protection from Grapeshot. Once this happens, the opponent’s main way to win is to make a ton of Goblins with Empty the Warrens. Your game plan can be to stick a Runed Halo and then keep a sweeper like Detention Sphere for the Goblin tokens. If your opponent isn’t ready for this card, he or she may be taken by surprise. Beware that he or she may also ’board out Grapeshot, so there is some sideboard jockeying that must happen.

Scapeshift: This can be another tricky matchup, but you can name Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, and things become easier.

Griselbrand Reanimator decks: There are a few different threats you can name in this matchup: Griselbrand, Borborygmos Enraged (don’t forget the Enraged part!), and Worldspine Wurm. The best one to name first is Griselbrand because the opponent doesn’t gain 7 life from hitting you, as the damage is prevented, so he or she will draw fewer cards.

Eldrazi: If you name Thought-Knot Seer, it prevents the 4/4 from damaging you, but the opponent also doesn’t get to take a card from your hand. Remember the Seer says, “When it leaves play, target opponent draws a card,” so you also don’t draw cards off it. I also like to name Reality Smasher, as the 5/5 trampler is very scary; it’s a way to answer it without discarding a card. It’s realistic that there is some sort of Eldrazi deck after the bannings are announced, but in a limited capacity.

Burn: I’m at a loss if you actually want this card in the matchup. You often don’t know the opponent’s hand, so naming a burn spell he or she hasn’t played yet seems risky because he or she may never draw it. You can name a creature he or she has in play, but that means it has already damaged you; the best candidate for this is Eidolon of the Great Revel. The damage you take from casting spells is reduced to 0, but the opponent still takes damage. If you name Boros Charm, the opponent can deal damage to you by giving a creature double strike or it can be used to save a creature from a removal spell. Atarka's Command can still give the opponent’s team +1/+1. Lightning Bolt and Rift Bolt can kill Snapcaster Mage. Lava Spike is the best candidate, as it can’t target creatures and has no other mode that incidentally deals damage.

Potential cards from Shadows of Innistrad include:

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets — This one is a stretch because Gideon is so strong. You can bounce creatures to make way for Geist, but I doubt it dethrones Gideon. I have seen many players with white midrange decks playing 5-drops other than Gideon, and I think that’s a mistake. Batterskull has nothing on that Planeswalker.

Thing in the Ice — I’ve heard a lot of buzz about this card in Modern. It can eat Lightning Bolts for breakfast, but it is a prime target for Path to Exile. Overall, I’m not sold. You need to build around this effect because I don’t want to cast a spell each turn; I’m all right playing draw-go.

Archangel Avacyn — This is probably worse than Restoration Angel, but it does protect Geist of Saint Traft. Paying 5 mana is a lot, and I prefer Gideon in this slot.

Invasive Surgery — Finally, there’s an interesting card! I don’t want to go overboard on this card, but I wouldn’t mind trying a couple of these over a Dispel and Negate in the ’board. It’s not better than Dispel, but it is different.

Here’s my latest version of the deck:

U/R/W Geist ? Modern | Kyle Boggemes

• Creatures (7)
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 3 Geist of Saint Traft

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Ajani Vengeant
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 2 Gideon Jura

• Spells (25)
• 1 Dispel
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 3 Electrolyze
• 3 Lightning Helix
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Remand
• 4 Serum Visions

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Island
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Runed Halo
• 1 Forked Bolt
• 2 Detention Sphere
• 1 Dispel
• 2 Invasive Surgery
• 3 Stony Silence
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

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I have made only minor updates since the deck flowed very well after the initial run. Mystic Gate seems great, as I am sideboarding in Runed Halo and need double white early. The double white can also be helpful to cast Gideon or Elspeth, but I’ll probably have the necessary mana by turn four or five.

I cut down to three Geists because some matchups are more about killing all of the opponent’s threats. In creature matchups, I only want to draw removal spells since Snapcaster Mage and Celestial Colonnade are often enough to close the game.

Playing four Lightning Helix was too many, as I was actually shaving them in creature matchups. When you cut creature-kill spells against creature decks, it means you have too much of a good thing. I added Ajani Vengeant because it’s similar, but also great versus control. When I ’board out Geists if I’m on the draw, I still need ways to win, and Planeswalkers are a great avenue to victory.

I’m trying an Elspeth, Sun's Champion in the ’board because it acts as a sweeper against certain decks that doesn’t interfere with my Geist. It can also serve as a trump card against other midrange decks.

Invasive Surgery seems great because you can reach delirium quickly (creature, land, instant, and sorcery) thanks to playing four Serum Visions. I want to counter spells like Scapeshift, Sylvan Scrying, Night's Whisper, and Lava Spike. There are also plenty of sorceries to counter early against combo because it hits Serum Visions and Sleight of Hand. Beware that Tron will probably have Pyroclasm for Geist, too. Dispel is very bad at protecting Geist, as most sweepers are sorceries. I have been saying for years that we need an Envelop effect in Modern, and Invasive Surgery delivers, but it’s hard to cut more than one Dispel.

The best part about this deck is the face your opponent makes when you resolve Elspeth, Gideon, and Geist of Saint Traft. It’s hard to describe, but it’s very obvious when he or she has no way to win. Please play this deck so you can see that face; it’s very gratifying. The main goal of Modern is to present powerful threats and strategies that the opponent has difficulty answering. I think this deck does a very nice job of that, and I’m strongly considering this strategy for the SCG Invitational.

Wish me luck, and go win some matches, too! This deck is very fun to play and appeals to most players.

Thanks for reading,

Kyle