MTG Salvation

What is Top Control?

Top Control is a cheap artifact tool box that aims at preventing opponents from drawing threats by locking them into drawing lands or dead cards a la fateseal, turn after turn, until either you mill them, deal lethal damage or they rage quit... concede unable to break the lock.

Why play Top Control?

Some decks control by countering the opponent's threats, some decks control by making opponents discard threats, some others destroy lands to prevent them from playing threats, others use planeswalkers, some just pack a lot of hate and so on. Top control is all about draw control and it is godly fun to play with (not necessarily fun if playing against it). You want to be preventing threats from ever reaching the opponent's hand. If you are a control player at heart, there is no better feeling than having control over what your opponent can and cannot draw from their library. As a bonus, you get to control what you draw as well. You can use the combo to dig for answers out of your deck, to prevent land floods, to prevent drawing dead cards. Fixing draws is godly fun.

If you like having huge decision trees, this is the deck for you.

Why not play Top Control?

This is a late game win deck, if you like winning by turns 3-to-5, this is not the deck for you.

If you like playing decks on auto-run this deck is not for you, this deck will make you think, a lot. There is a lot of stuff that you can do with this deck like getting rid of an opponent's threat, digging through your deck, card filtering, graveyard recursion, card drawing, card fetching, etc. You must think twice about every decision you make.

If you like attacking your opponent, this is not for you as some variations don't even have creatures and the ones that do you will not be able to attack until you got a tight lock on the opponent.

A rough categorized list including sideboard cards of the most common cards being talked about through this thread:

LANDS

Glimmervoid – Due to the combo being cheap and colorless, the variety of builds is virtually infinite. The deck can support spells on all 5 colors but it is critial that you guarantee those colors on turn 1. This card allows us to play all our spells on turn 1. The downside is nearly irrelevant, very rarely will you have an opening hand with just glimmervoid as a land and no artifacts and an even rarer sight is to play a glimmervoid + artifact turn 1 and the opponent blowing that artifact on their turn 1.

Tendo Ice Bridge – Read Glimmervoid. The downside here is the lost counter which is bearable. You really should only need to guarantee colors on turn 1 or 2 to kickstart the deck. It is hardly ever a problem to live without the counter if it was put to good use and there even are games where you play Tendo and never use the counter.

Academy Ruins - Essential in any artifact deck and most lists are up in the 18-26 artifacts range. So many cheap artifacts to get back after being milled, destroyed, discarded, countered, dumped or sacrificed. Specially good on game 2 where artifact hate comes into the picture. It also keeps you from losing to mill or milling yourself while digging. New legend rule allows to run 2 with little to no issues.

Darksteel Citadel - An artifact land to increase the chances of activating Mox Opal turn 1. It's indestructible, it gives some assurance to Glimmervoid in case an artifact sweeper is played.

Due to the nature of the deck allowing up to 5 colored decks, there isn't a core manabase outside Glimmervoid and newly found Tendo Ice Bridge. This is a rough list of some of the utility lands being tested, used or at least mentioned in the thread as good picks.

Fetchlands/Shocklands – All useful, it depends on the colors you want to focus on.
Buried Ruins - Get back a blown up lantern, needle, mill piece, tormod or bridge.
Mikokoro, Center of The Sea – Card draw mid game. Serves as a pseudo mill piece since the drawn card for the opponent should be a dead card.
Gemstone Mine – Any color turn 1. Only 3 uses.
Duskmantle, House of Shadows – Added milling control.
Nephalia Drownyard – Added milling speed. Control might be lost by milling unkown cards with flashback, dredge, etc.
Keldon Megaliths – Deals damage. Comes in tapped.
Ghost Quarter – Land control. It serves to make the opponent shuffle a threat away from the top or lose a land.
Grove of The Burnwillows – Awesome in RG heavy lists.
Sulfurous Springs & Friends – Generally good to replace fetchalnds/shocklands and reduce the lifeloss.

ARTIFACTS

Lantern of Insight - Main combo piece. This 1cmc card lets you look at both player's top card of their libraries at all times. Its shuffling ability is never used unless you absolutely need to. Read the next three cards to understand why looking at the top cards is awesome.

Codex Shredder - Main combo piece. Once you know what the top card of your opponent is you can then decide whether to let the opponent draw it or make them mill it. If the top card of your opponent is not a threat to you, you can use untapped codices to mill off the top of your own deck to set up good draws for yourself. As a bonus, this card has a second ability that lets you recur any card from the graveyard in the late game, so you can get back late game Ensnaring Bridge answers or wincons.

Ghoulcaller's Bell - Combo piece. Same effect as Codex Shredder, but it makes both players mill off the top. That is good at times and bad some times. Because some times you tap it to get rid of an opponent's card, but you also get rid of an important card and vice versa. On the other hand, some times you do want to mill both tops to mill an opponent's card while digging through your deck. It is a very tricky card, but nothing that can't be played around. It is optimal to have both bells and codices on the field. A special advantage on codex, if your opponent plays Leyline of Sanctity this card can still make them mill off the top.

Pyxis of Pandemonium – Read Ghoulcaller's Bell. This one exiles the card. Specially good to combat recursion on certain cards, flashback, dredge, Emrakul and so many other things you simply don't want near the opponent's graveyard.

Ensnaring Bridge - The nail on the coffin. Once you lock your opponent from drawing threats, you still have to deal with the threats they had on the opening hand and the ones drawn before the lock. The deck tends to play off an empty hand pretty efficiently and beautifully. Bridge then makes sure no attacks get through and the lock makes sure the bridge doesn't get destroyed. Bridge turns most of their creatures into dead beaters so you can let them draw most creatures, which makes it easier to keep control by easing the burden on the combo.

Mox Opal - Its modern, you need some ramp and this one costs 0 mana and gives you any color mana in an artifact deck with lots of colored spells. It usually attains metalcraft on turn 2 and on turn 1 with some opening hands. Copies can be dumped to Faithless Looting or milled with the lantern combo. New legend rule allows copies to be chained as an extra ramp tool, it is possible (not likely) to play a bridge on turn 1 with certain opening hands.

Pithing Needle - Answers a lot of weird stuff like Planeswalkers, Birthing Pod, manlands, fetchlands Deathrite Shaman, Grim Lavamancer, Oblivion Stone, Mindslaver, Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, the Swords of "A" and "B" and a lot more. It also pumps Mox Opal in a pinch. If not needed it can be dumped to Faihless Looting, or it can be recurred with Ancient Ruins if it was discarded, destroyed, milled, etc.

Tormod's Crypt – A 0cc artifact that helps in metalcraft for mox on turn 1. Its activation is also free. This card hoses most anything that uses the graveyard, it can respond to Emrakul, responds to Living End, shuts down Loam, Snapcaster Mage and so many other things. An alternative is nihil spellbomb, though it costs 1 and has a 1 cost activation, its only benefit is the potential draw advantage. This card is easily recurrable with ruins to keep a lock on the grave, unlike Relic of Progenitus.

Mishra's Bauble - Mox's Partner in crime. This card along with another 0 or 1cc artifact allows to tap mox opal turn 1, which means its not rare to have a lock online by turn 1. That means your opponent needs to win, in theory, with their opening hand since everything they draw beyond that has to be approved by you. This card has another benefit, it acts as a pseudo-lantern, if you got codex on turn 1 but no lantern, you can still peek at the top card of your opponent with this. Also it draws a card when you crack it so its never a dead card. Finally, with 2 mana and Academy Ruins on the field, you can recur bauble from the graveyard every turn to act as a momentary lantern, giving you limited control over their draws until you find your lantern. The drawback is that your draws will be one turn late since bauble draws you a card during the next upkeep so its best used at the ooponent's EOT.

SPELLS

Digging/Fetching

Ancient Stirrings - Getting lantern out is the top priority, this is one of the most used spells to find the locking pieces, but since it is an artifact deck, it can also find moxes, bridges, needles or spellbombs when you most need them. The best thing about this card is that it will always find something in such an artifact heavy deck, worst case scenario you find a land. The other good thing about this is that if you are trying to find a lantern on turn 1 and its not in the first 5, you just dug 5 cards closer to that lantern or whatever you were trying to find (bridge, needle, spellbomb...).

Faithless Looting - Digs for your combo while filtering your hand to find the best answers for the current match. Its got flashback in case you run out of gas. Discarding is a plus here since the deck tends to recur cards from the graveyard. The flashback on this card is something that will save you many times, always keep an eye out for any lootings in your grave and plan accordingly.

Infernal Tutor – Due to the deck evolving into a no hand playstyle to feed Bridge, Infernal Tutor became a thing in some lists. Its really good at being able to find exactly what you're thinking off. With a good lock this is mainly used to tutor the preferred wincon to wrap up the game.

Trinket Mage – A body that fetches your 0 and 1cc artifact tools. Very rarely used as wincon. (Fabricate might be better, you lose the body but can fetch Ensnaring Bridge or other artifacts sided in like Torpor Orb.

Reshape - Can turn any artifact into a lantern on the spot, it can find a bridge or needle for locking purposes. You can sac useless needles, baubles or mox.

Thoughtcast - The deck attains metalcraft on turns 1 and 2 usually.

Serum Visions/Sleight of Hand - One draws then fixes, the other fixes then draws.

Trash for Treasure - Gets any artifact back. You can dump or mill something big and trash for it.

Glittering Wish – Plenty of multicolored cards to build a solid wishboard. Only a sorcery though.

Removal

Dispatch - Artifact decks have THE best removal spell ever printed.

Galvanic Blast – Another awesome removal spell for artifact decks, bolt on steroids. Usually hits for 4 on turn 2, though 2 damage should do the trick with most of the stuff that really bother u early on. Its benefit over dispatch is being able to hit planeswalkers and players and if for some reason you lack metalcraft it still hits for 2 while dispatch only taps the creature.

Abrupt Decay – The most commonly used removal spell can surely fit into a cheap deck that supports all 5 colors.

Beast Within – This beauty targets everything from lands to planeswalkers. The token should be of no trouble with so much removal or with a bridge out. If you got a tight lock you can use it on a permanent of your own to start attacking or if you need an emergency blocker to stop things like Geist of Saint Thraft. (Some prefer Maelstrom Pulse)

Pyroclasm - Hates out early utility creatures, weenies and creature rushes like affinity, waves of tokens and more. (Some prefer Firespout).

Pyrite Spellbomb - It pumps up Mox Opal, it can cycle itself and it can target creatures, players or planeswalkers. It is good vs affinity as it can target all their creatures including bl/inkmoth and even Etched Champion before you set up a bridge. Its also good vs flashed in creatures like Snapcaster Mage, Pestermite or vialed in creatures. It can also be recurred with Academy Ruins to have it loaded on the field in case of emergency. An all around good card. With 4 mana and Academy Ruins on the field you can recur this every turn for 2 damage a turn, thats useful in matchups like Tron where you can't mill them and its near impossible to attack through Emrakul.

Engineered Explosives - The deck can support up to 5 colors without much trouble and our permanents are mostly at 0 and 1 with the exception of bridge at 3, this shines at 2.

Oust - Works with codex/bell on pre-lantern turns.

Hand Disruption

Thougthseize - Opponents usually just have one "get out of jail free" card in their opening hand, this deals with it pretty effectively and fast. A well placed thoughtseize right before or right after the lock tends to seal the deal. Can be used as anti-counter if used to clear the way for the combo. The lifeloss is the price payed over Duress to be able to target creatures like Snapcaster Mage, Eternal witness, a combo creature or anything that can hurt you even after you lockdown.

Inquisition of Kozilek/Duress – A complement to Thoughtseize.

PLANESWALKERS

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas - The preferred pet wincon. The deck needs no alternative wincon since the lantern combo IS your wincon and you can usually recur burn spells as an alt. wincon. However, Tezz has a lot of synergy with the deck, it can dig for combo pieces, it can turn your artifacts into 5/5 creatures or it can simply deal lethal damage to the opponent through its ultimate with all the artifacts you will have lying on the field. It can be recurred from the grave with codex or you can dig for it or tutor it out of the library. The opponent needs to deal with it so it becomes a lightning rod for damage. (Some preffer Tezzeret the Seeker

Liliana of the Veil - Hand & creature control. She can survive the same way tezz does, protected by the bridge. Lightning rod for damage. It has no wincon built in, just added control.

Ashiok, Nightmare WeaverJace Beleren – Added milling control.

SIDEBOARD

Graffdigger's Cage - Your best defense vs Ancient Grudge and Snapcaster Mage's flashbacked spells. Those are the 2 cards that most threaten the locks. Cage also nullifies Birthing Pod.

Sunbeam SPellbomb – For your opponent, every lifegain point they can take from you matters. We usually get low on lifepoints during the first few turns until we can lock the opponent, after this the opponent either concedes or tries to grind you down with burn spells, lifeloss (Deathrite) or 0/1 exalted attacks. Sunbeam sets the opponent back a lot at this stage because it is extremely hard for them to draw into a bolt for example. If they have you at 3 life and just need to get one last bolt in, after a sunbeam suddenly the opponent needs to find 3 bolts. This card is really good at keeping you alive vs opponents that can grind out the game since you can be gaining the 5 life over and over with Academy Ruins.

Surgical Extraction - Good in any mill deck. Some people love it, others don’t.

Welding Jar - Good off the SB for protection. It also aids in metalcraft for mox.

Spellskite – Hoser vs certain decks, pretty good against a wide range of decks. Mainly good off the SB.

Torpor Orb – Good vs certain decks.

Elixir of Immortality - A 1cc that nets you life and protects you from losing to mill.

Leyline of Sanctity – A must on the sideboard. A singleton main couldn't hurt.

Ancient Grudge/Ray of Revelation – 2 for 1. You could dump it to Faithless Looting or mill it and play it from the graveyard.

Wear/Tear - Versatile SB card vs the usual hate. Ancient Grudge might prove more useful if the deck becomes popular and mirror matches become a problem.

Nature’s Claim – Another option to take out the usual hate, this one has the added bonus that you can target something of your own for the lifegain. The drawback is that it costs 1, and could end up being locked out with the rest of the deck by a halice of the void set at 1.

NOTE: If anyone thinks of a card that belongs here please submit the name of the card and brief notes on its pros and cons. I'd also post revised comments for cards already added. Basically just help me expand the primer.

How the deck plays:

The top priority is getting Lantern of Insight out on the field ASAP. With one of the mill pieces. The best possible play allows for a turn 1 Lantern of Insight and Codex Shredder and a turn 2 Ensnaring Bridge. If you don't have a lantern on the opening hand there are options to find it, Faithless Looting lets you dig for the lantern while filtering your hand, Ancient Stirrings lets you grab an artifact from the first 5 cards of the top of the library and if you got UU1 Reshape turns any artifact into the lantern on the spot. There are also U spells like Serum Visions or Sleight of Hand to draw into the lantern while filtering draws. Trinket Mage works as well. Mishra's Bauble has a limited lantern effect and is recurrable with Academy Ruins.

Other than getting your lantern combo out to control draws, your priority should be on keeping control via removal and discard while you seal the game with Ensnaring Bridge.

Versus combo decks you need to make them discard their combo card and prevent them from drawing it again or flashbacking it with snapcaster. You could also just needle a combo piece or destroy it.

How to use the combo:

Basically unless the opponent is trying to draw cards from their deck you should just let them play their turn and at their EOT use the combo to set up their next draw. After setting up their draw, use untapped combo pieces to set up your own draw, then untap your cards, go to your upkeep and use more combo pieces to further set up your draw if needed. That way each combo piece's usefulness is doubled, if you have 2 codex you can use them at their EOT and then again on your upkeep, giving you 4 uses out of 2 pieces.

Early game you use the combo to make them discard off the top of their deck until a land or a dead card is on top, then you let them draw that. With a bridge out you can let them draw creatures, just don't let them draw creatures with abilities like Grim Lavamancer who can deal damage without attacking, or creatures that let them draw cards, etc.

Vs decks with drawing spells, you need to play counter style, let them play their spells then respond with the combo pieces to make them mill the top card they wanted to draw.

Shuffle effects - Beware you should never tap out your combo pieces in your turn if your opponent has a way to shuffle their library. Fetchlands, the opponent can use them to shuffle their deck at your EOT changing the card you wanted them to draw. You can respond to this after they search or during their upkeep before they draw. The opponent can also use Path to Exile on a creature of their own to shuffle. If you believe the opponent can somehow shuffle their library, just don't tap out your codices or bells.

Main wincon - The main goal of the deck is to progressively mill your opponent, early game you mill them 1-3 cards a turn, late game you can make them discard up to 8 cards a turn with the full set of bells and codexes on field. You can run the deck with mill as your only wincon for absolute consistency, however some decks are more mill resistant than others so alternate wincons are welcomed.

- Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas seems to be the most commonly used planeswalker as an alt. Wincon for its synergy with the deck.

- Galvanic Blast is recurrable with Codex Shredder and Shredder with Academy Ruins.

- You could also use Pyrite Spellbombs to deal damage to your opponent. Next turn recur it back with Academy Ruins for a repeat. Due to Pyrite dealing only 2 damage its clock is as good as recurring back Galvanic Blast.

- If you got a lock and your opponent has no creatures left, you can use Beast Within on a permanent of your own (mainly the bridge) to produce a 3/3 token with which to deal damage. Or create a token with Tezzeret or something else. Winning by creature damage is an extremely rare sight with this deck.

- Thopter Foundry Provides a way to gain life in the process of popping out flying 1/1s while recurring the sacced artifacts with Academy Ruins.

Once you manage to lock the opponent any wincon works, running a 1-off wincon is enough since you can dig through the deck to find it, tutor it or recur it back from the graveyard. Since almost any wincon works after you lock the opponent, alternate wincons are not limited to these few. Let your creativity decide and have fun.

Wishboard options

Glittering Wish

Wincons

Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas: Best to close out games quickly, or dig for combo pieces. Also good against Affinity for turning Ornithopter or Cranial Plating in to a 5/5. Just remember you might not be able play him the turn you 'wish' for him due to a total cost of 2WUBG

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver: Good for the mill route, and can pump out blockers if needed. It's ultimate can eventually deal with any threatening cards left in their hand from before the lock.

Thopter Foundry: The minor life gain can be important, and blockers can also be useful. Academy Ruins with Darksteel Citadel (or any other cheap artifact) will let you spit out a token every turn. Draw a card, swing with tokens, then play your card.

Boros Charm: A 5th Galvanic Blast if you need to push through damage. The Indestructible can also be useful, but more so post-sideboard. Lightning Helix can also go here; can be used as removal, and some small lifegain could be important.

Board filled up with artifacts and lock established? Tezzeret if they are still at high life, Boros Charm if you've already Galvanic Blast'd a few times.

Missing a part of the lock? Tezzeret to find general pieces, Ashiok for another mill rock

Graveyard shenanigans? Ashiok

Feeling a little behind on your board state? Thopter Foundry to spit out blockers and gain life, Tezzeret to grab more artifacts (or make big blockers), Ashiok can generate blockers.

Ashiok can also really help pad your life total, climbing by 2 a turn.

Utility

Abrupt Decay: Destroy most things in Modern.

Maelstrom Pulse: Destroy everything else. With a clogged board state, this will often 2-for-1, although with a Bridge out that doesn't mean much if it is destroying creatures. Can be useful for destroying multiple hate cards. Scavenging Ooze, or any number of sideboard hate cards. I find some people playing a replicate of something like Stony Silence for redundancy in case of destruction, rather than saving it.

Wheel of Sun and Moon: shuts down graveyard decks, and makes us rely on damage for a wincon. Can also be used against mill decks.

Firespout: 3 damage pyroclasm for an extra board wipe

Supreme Verdict: A real board wipe. Sometimes it feels nice to wipe the board, even with 1-2 Bridges out. Especially post-sideboard against something with green or white. Might not be able to cast it the turn you wish for it.

Wear // Tear: Already one of our sideboard cards. Yes, this is multicolored when it is not on the stack.

Rakdos Charm: Artifact hate, Graveyard hate, Splinter Twin combo hate.

Hide // Seek: Might try this out in place of a Wear // Tear. Tuck an artifact or enchantment, or go remove their wincon. As a last resort, you should always be able to get at least 3-4 life. Against tron, it's a solid 7 or 15 life. Also gets you a shuffle and increases the land ratio to make your job a little easier. Too bad these old split cards didn't have fuse.

Castigate: An extra thoughtseize that exiles.

Dreadbore: Not to great, as the only walkers that see some level of play are really just Liliana and Ajani.

Affinity:

Priority – Dispatch, Pyroclasm, Pyrite Spellbomb until you can play Ensnaring Bridge

Key cards - Pithing Needle, Pyroclasm, Ensnaring Bridge, Abrupt Decay, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb.

SB: Abrupt Decay, Pithing Needle

Birthing Pod:

Priority – Landing Pithing Needle on B.Pod followed by Ensnaring Bridge

Key cards - Ensnaring Bridge, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pithing Needle, Pyroclasm, Thoughtseize, Tormod's Crypt, Abrupt Decay.

SB: Abrupt Decay, Pithing Needle

Infect:

Priority – Dispatch, Pyroclasm, Thoughtseize until you can play Ensnaring Bridge

Key cards - Ensnaring Bridge, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pyroclasm.

SB: Abrupt Decay, Pithing Needle

Jund – Duress to take out Abrupt Decay or Maelstrom Pulse, the concentrate on keeping Dark Confidant off the field until you play a Bridge. After Bridge you can let them play Dark Confidant and use it against them by letting it deal damage while controlling the draws.

Key cards - Ensnaring Bridge, Duress, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pyroclasm, Pithing Needle.

SB: Abrupt Decay, Pyroclasm, Surgical Extraction (Ancient Grudge)

RDW:

Priority – Gas them out by using Duress on their burn spells then lock them out of more burn spells followed by Ensnaring Bridge.

Key Cards - Ensnaring Bridge, Duress, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pyroclasm.

SB: Abrupt Decay, Leyline of Sanctity

Scapeshift:

Priority – Duress on Scapeshift and try to prevent them from drawing Snapcaster Mage. Also try to mill their Valakut before they can play scapeshift or use Beast Within on it if they play it before scapeshift.

Key cards – Duress, Beast Within

SB: Leyline of Sanctity, Surgical Extraction, Relic of Progenitus

Tron:

Priority – Duress or Pithing Needle on Oblivion Stone, the needle must be set pre-emptively or they will play it and activate it at the same time. Then fetch the second Pithing Needle for Karn if you can’t mill it either pre-emtively or after they drop it. Follow with Ensnaring Bridge to neutralize Emrakul, The Eons Thorn. Beast Within is good if you can’t needle Karn.

Key Cards – Duress, Pithing Needle, Ensnaring Bridge, Beast Within,

SB: Abrupt Decay, Surgical Extraction, Pithing Needle

Twin:

Priority – Duress on Twin if you can, play Ensnaring Bridge. For safety always keep W mana open and a Dispatch on hand for when they try to go off.

Key Cards - Ensnaring Bridge, Duress, Dispatch, Beast Within, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pithing Needle

SB: Abrupt Decay, Pithing Needle, Surgical Extraction

Ux Tempo:

Priority – Just land the lantern combo to keep them off more counters and draw spells and find an Ancient Ruins for anything you lose to counters. Land an Ensnaring Bridge when its safe. Use your needles on Celestial Colonnade or other manlands. Duress on their counters.

Key cards – Duress, Ancient Ruins, Ensnaring Bridge, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pithing Needle,

SB: Abrupt Decay, Surgical Extraction

Uxx Control:

Priority – Read Ux Tempo

Key cards – read Ux Tempo

White Lifegain/Death&Taxes:

Priority – Ensnaring Bridge should do all the work, find one and play it ASAP.

Ensnaring Bridge, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pyroclasm, Duress

SB: Abrupt Decay

Wx Token:

Priority – Read White lifegain.

Ensnaring Bridge, Duress, Beast Within, Dispatch, Pyrite Spellbomb, Pyroclasm.

SB: Abrupt Decay

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