Welcome to my UW Ojutai's Control list!
Ojutai's Control is a twist on the UW Control deck which has been putting up results and is in the upper echelon of Modern decks at the moment. The core of the deck remains, but there are a few notable differences between the "meta" list and mine which I will explain below.
Main Threats
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Restoration Angel
2x Dragonlord Ojutai
2x Gideon of the Trials
1x
Gideon Jura
One thing that sets this list apart from most other control lists is the density of threats in the main deck, which is compensated for by running less planeswalkers than most lists. I used to run Vendilion Clique in place of the
Gideon Jura
and sided him in in matchups where he shined, but with the new PW rule he's a lot better with Gideon of the Trials out now, so I switched 1 Clique to SB and Big Gids to MB. This deck is a lot more creature heavy than most lists, and as a result of this Restoration Angel shines. Blinking Clique, Wall of Omens or Kitchen Finks while presenting an evasive, Bolt-proof threat is insane value for 4 mana, and she often acts as a pseudo-Cryptic Command against a removal spell (Blinking Wall blocking a Monastery Swiftspear after they've cast Lightning Bolt on it is insane value, and occurs more often than you'd think).
Dragonlord Ojutai is the spicy one here, and isn't often seen in UW control lists, but I am a huge fan for the following reasons: He's an evasive threat that demands an answer, yet is extremely resilient to removal due to having 4 toughness for Bolt, 5 CMC for Fatal Push, and Hexproof while untapped. Minamo, School at Water's Edge and Blessed Alliance can untap Ojutai while a removal spell is on the stack, forcing them to have 2 removal spells or the original one fizzles. Even if they do have 2, with Minamo I've essentially 2-for-1'd my opponent, and cleared the way for my other threats. If he connects he is also a great source of selective card advantage to keep you ahead in the game by drawing Cryptic Commands and Restoration Angels.
Big Gids and Little Gids are a house in the aggro matchups, Wall on 2 into Little Gids on 3 is insane vs Burn, plus some decks just cannot beat that emblem, or at the very least it makes it hard (Ad Nauseam, Lantern are examples). He is also a fast clock in his own right, and he can also be blinked by Resto in creature mode to attack for a turn and then neutralize a threat like a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle or an Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Colonnade needs no explaining, it's a threat that doesn't take up a nonland slot. Always run 4.
Removal
4x Path to Exile
1x Blessed Alliance
2x
Detention Sphere
3x Supreme Verdict
Path to Exile is good for obvious reasons. Instant speed unconditional exile removal for the low low price of 1 mana. If I could run 8 I probably would. It iz gud!
Blessed Alliance is a great utility spell that is always relevant in this deck. Gain 4 life is serviceable vs Burn and Affinity, or in any matchup where we need just one more turn. Sacrifice an attacking creature is the mode that gets used most often, great vs Reality Smashers and the like. Untap up to 2 creatures is the mode people forget, but anyone who's had a Path blown out by it when trying to kill Ojutai will tell you that in this deck it's one of the most powerful, acting as a pseudo-Counterspell with upside. The fact that for more mana you can gain multiple effects is just gravy. 1 main 1 side.
Detention Sphere is the best in catch-all removal that UW has to offer, plus it plays nicely with Cryptic Command to bounce it back to hand to set up a nice Supreme Verdict the following turn while still having the Sphere to deal with a later threat.
On the topic of the Verdict, it's one of the best sources of card advantage in the deck, getting a 2, 3, or even a 4 (or more!) for 1 is great, so great in fact I'm often OK with trading something like a Resto for 3 or more creatures, especially if I have a follow up threat like an Ojutai in hand. Wall and Little Gids force the opponent to play into a good Verdict to get damage in, the curve of turn 2 Wall, turn 3 Little Gids turn 4 Verdict is hard to beat for aggressive decks. The only reason I'm only running 3 in the 75 is that it does hurt us sometimes being a bit more creature-heavy than most builds, but in a lot of matchups it's the best card in the deck.
Disruption
4x Spreading Seas
2x Ghost Quarter
2x Tectonic Edge
One of my friends once described this deck as "UW Ponza". With this suite of land interaction, I can totally see why, greedy mana bases, Tron decks and Valakut beware, Spreading Seas knows where you live and isn't known to take prisoners. You can even bounce it with Cryptic for value! 4 main all day every day.
I'm personally running a 2/2 split of Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge, because GQ is better vs decks like Tron while Tec Edge is better vs decks like TitanShift. 2/2 is probably best in an open field but adjust for the meta, GQ is mediocre vs TitanShift but can win you the game vs Tron, whereas without a Seas opening, Tec Edge is often too slow vs Tron but putting TitanShift down one mountain is huge and slows down their Scapeshift kill.
"No" Cards
3x Cryptic Command
2x Spell Snare
This list is fairly light on countermagic, as such, our maindeck counters need to be impactful. Cryptic Command is such a versatile spell, counter draw is always good but being able to tap down a lethal board full of Reality Smashers or bounce an Ensnaring Bridge is very relevant. I've even bounced my own Wall of Omens and drew to fizzle a Bolt, not to mention the tricks you can do with
Detention Sphere
. I run 3 because it competes with Resto and 3 means I should see at least one per game. That being said, 4 is also fine, there is no such thing as too many Cryptics.
Spell Snare is just so efficient at what it does, always tempo-positive, wins counter wars, gains you 3/4 life vs Burn or counters their Eidolon, counters important cards such as Devoted Druid, Vizier of Remedies, Cranial Plating, Sylvan Scrying, Chalice of the Void on 1 and more! Most matchups have at least a few targets this can hit, and for those that don't, there is always the sideboard!
Other
2x Kitchen Finks
3x Serum Visions
Finks is the "flex" slot in this deck, and could easily be 1 more Wall 1 more SV but I am a huge fan. It's great vs Burn as a blocker that trades with 2 creatures/spells whilst gaining me life, effectively being a 3 for 1 for only 3 mana. It's got a decent body, puts a decent clock in on an empty board, survives Verdict, and is #value with Resto.
SV is a cantrip I can play on t1 that sets up my next couple of draws, potentially digging me into Seas/Wall when I need it. I play this over
Opt
because UW is a lot more "tap-out" than other control decks in the format, in something like Jeskai or Esper Draw-Go I'd run Opt over SV but in this the extra dig is worth more than the instant speed.
Rest of the Lands
4x Flooded Strand
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Glacial Fortress
2x Mystic Gate
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4x Island
1x Plains
The mana base here is designed to be as painless as possible while still enabling 3 blue on turn 4 for Cryptic Command and 2 white on turn 3 for Kitchen Finks and Gideon of the Trials. Mystic Gate as a 2-of is crucial in this as a painless untapped dual that filters mana to whatever is needed. Glacial Fortress is 90% of the time an Tundra without land types, while the fetches and shocks ensure I have islands/plains for it to be a Tundra and not merely an Azorius Guildgate. The fetches are also helpful if I expect Blood Moon since this deck is weaker to Blood Moon than usual since I run Eiganjo Castle and Minamo, School at Water's Edge to enable Ojutai. That being said, Eiganjo Castle allows Ojutai to block Reality Smashers and
Gurmag Angler
s all day while Minamo fizzles removal (and can act as a pseudo-filter with Eiganjo Castle out if I'm desperate) so the trade-off is worth it in my opinion. The deck has mainboard outs to a resolved Moon in any case, but this does mean we are locked out of Finks, Verdict, and both Gideons while it's out since we just run the 1 Plains.
SIDEBOARD COMING SOON
