Modern just received one of the biggest shakeups. From the beginning (circa August 2011, i.e. before Pro Tour Philadelphia, which was the first big Modern event to be played), Ancestral Vision and Sword of the Meek have been on the banned list.

Now they have finally come off! This is a huge shakeup since Ancestral Vision allows grindy blue decks to exist (which tended to perform less than ideally before). Thopter Foundry with Sword of the Meek is a powerful combination that has dominated old Extended Grand Prix.

I’m always a fan of not completely reinventing the wheel, so there’s a clear starting point:

W/U Thopter Control ? Modern (circa 2010) | Cedric Phillips

• Spells (38)
• 3 Cryptic Command
• 3 Mana Leak
• 3 Muddle the Mixture
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Spell Snare
• 4 Thirst For Knowledge
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 3 Chrome Mox
• 3 Engineered Explosives
• 3 Sword of the Meek
• 4 Thopter Foundry

• Lands (22)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Island
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Steam Vents
• 3 Hallowed Fountain
• 3 Mystic Gate
• 2 Academy Ruins
• 3 Seat of the Synod

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 3 Pristine Angel
• 2 Celestial Purge
• 1 Disenchant
• 2 Negate
• 3 Shadow of Doubt
• 3 Wrath of God

Buy This Deck

A lot of these cards aren’t legal (Seat of the Synod and Chrome Mox come to mind), and the mana base is significantly better with access to both Celestial Colonnade and Flooded Strand. Cryptic Command is a pretty clunky card that I don’t think you can get away with playing since it lines up so poorly against opposing Dispels.

Muddle the Mixture is a tutor for Thopter Foundry or Sword of the Meek, but it can also protect Thopter Foundry from Kolaghan's Command.

Trying to figure out what to replace the clunky cards and artifact mana with, I really like the look of this list W/U Thopter Control:

W/U Thopter Control ? Modern | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (2)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Spellskite

• Spells (33)
• 1 Into the Roil
• 3 Muddle the Mixture
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Spell Snare
• 4 Thirst For Knowledge
• 3 Supreme Verdict
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 3 Sword of the Meek
• 3 Thopter Foundry

• Lands (25)
• 4 Plains
• 6 Island
• 1 Watery Grave
• 3 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Celestial Colonnade
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 2 Academy Ruins
• 1 Darksteel Citadel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Hurkyl's Recall
• 1 Negate
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Into the Roil
• 2 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 4 Kitchen Finks

Buy This Deck

There’s a lot more flexibility than first meets the eye. Muddle the Mixture encourages the use of high-impact, 2-mana spells (Spellskite and Snapcaster Mage both fit this). Spellskite shuts down a huge portion of decks Game 1 (including Infect and Bogles), and it also helps to protect your Thopter Foundry from Abrupt Decay.

With regards to sideboarding, it’s very likely you want another nonartifact win condition to get around opposing Stony Silences. I already included one Elspeth, Sun's Champion, but something like Baneslayer Angel or Geist of Saint Traft is cheaper in terms of mana while being annoying threats.

I really like the look of this deck—it’s pretty easy to answer all of the opponent’s threats and then follow up with Ancestral Vision unsuspended or Thirst for Knowledge to find your Foundry and Sword. It’s pretty easy to play a very good attrition game and eventually win the late game with your combo.

In the same vein, what would a U/B version of this look like?

U/B Thopter Control ? Modern | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Snapcaster Mage

• Spells (34)
• 1 Into the Roil
• 2 Muddle the Mixture
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Spell Snare
• 4 Thirst For Knowledge
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 4 Damnation
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3 Sword of the Meek
• 4 Thopter Foundry

• Lands (25)
• 2 Swamp
• 6 Island
• 3 River of Tears
• 3 Watery Grave
• 4 Creeping Tar Pit
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 2 Academy Ruins
• 1 Darksteel Citadel

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Hurkyl's Recall
• 1 Negate
• 1 Curse of Death's Hold
• 1 Tezzeret, the Seeker
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 1 Into the Roil
• 1 Ensnaring Bridge
• 3 Dark Confidant

Buy This Deck

I’m not as thrilled by this version. Since you are replacing Path to Exile with Inquisition of Kozilek, you’re much weaker to decks like Zoo or Infect or even an opposing Dark Confidant.

Dark Confidant is a nice switcheroo (since you don’t show the opponent any real creatures in Game 1) to pull really far ahead.

In both lists, Academy Ruins is a powerful weapon to grind down decks like Jund, Abzan, or Grixis by running the opponent out of answers for your Thopter–Sword combination.

If you’re in the market for a card that lets you trump Melira, Sylvok Outcast’s infinite life (you can usually deck the opponent, so this isn’t really a thing), Krark-Clan Ironworks lets you go arbitrarily large (by saccing each token to make two more).

On Other Ancestral Vision Decks

Goblin Dark-Dwellers is extremely powerful with Ancestral Vision (allowing you to cast it off its trigger for free. This points to the obvious shells of Izzet and Grixis Control.

Izzet Control ? Modern | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (8)
• 3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Vendilion Clique

• Spells (27)
• 2 Cryptic Command
• 3 Electrolyze
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Spell Snare
• 1 Anger of the Gods
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 2 Blood Moon
• 1 Vedalken Shackles
• 2 Batterskull

• Lands (25)
• 1 Mountain
• 6 Island
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Steam Vents
• 3 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 4 Wandering Fumarole

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Vandalblast
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx
• 1 Anger of the Gods
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 2 Sudden Shock
• 2 Counterflux
• 2 Blood Moon
• 2 Dispel

Buy This Deck

This deck showcases a bunch of things: Goblin Dark-Dwellers is very good with both cheap removal and Ancestral Vision (you can almost view it as Snapcaster Mages five through seven). In addition, there are a bunch of extremely good late-game cards (Batterskull and even Vedalken Shackles) because Ancestral Vision lets you see a lot of your deck. Blood Moon is an extremely strong card against the opposing blue decks (if those players don’t know to expect it), especially alongside Vedalken Shackles.

Grixis Control is also a very obvious contender:

Grixis Control ? Modern | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (12)
• 2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
• 4 Snapcaster Mage
• 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

• Spells (26)
• 2 Kolaghan's Command
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Mana Leak
• 4 Terminate
• 4 Thought Scour
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 4 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Lands (23)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Island
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 2 Steam Vents
• 2 Watery Grave
• 3 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Scalding Tarn

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Anger of the Gods
• 2 Vandalblast
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 3 Dispel
• 1 Surgical Extraction
• 1 Fulminator Mage
• 2 Thoughtseize
• 1 Vendilion Clique
• 1 Liliana of the Veil
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Hibernation

Buy This Deck

This deck is similar to the Grixis Control decks that Gerry Thompson and company popularized. Gaining Ancestral Vision gives a legitimate way to pull ahead on cards that doesn’t cost life (read: Painful Truths).

In conclusion, I expect a huge shakeup in Modern going forward. There are many shells that Thopter Foundry with Sword of the Meek can go in (including Gifts Ungiven variants). Eggs could conceivably play this as a backup win condition since Krark-Clan Ironworks does play extremely well with the Thopter–Sword combo (allowing you go to arbitrarily large).

I would also expect to see Affinity, Infect, and Jund do well in the early weeks of this format since they are known quantities regarding how to build them.

I think there is also a great Jeskai Midrange list (based on Ancestral Vision, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and Goblin Dark-Dwellers).

I’m certainly excited to see what happens at the Star City Games Invitational Modern portion in Columbus, but I will be attending Grand Prix Albuquerque.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you have any comments here or on Twitter (@jkyu06).

Jarvis