Energy counters were first introduced in Kaladesh, and were the basis for several popular standard archetypes. With the release ofMagic: The Gathering’s Modern Horizons 3, they finally found a home in the Modern format, where several archetypes vie for dominance.
Energy counters are a powerful tool that allows you to stockpile resources for later, unlike mana which typically drains at the end of every turn and phase. By harnessing the power of the aether, you too can access this unique resource to electrify your opponents in your next Modern event.
Sample Decklist
Jeskai energy control deckstypically follow a very specific decklist, with the only real variation being the number of copies of each card. Some include a fourth copy of Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury in the main deck or sideboard, and several variations use a single copy of Teferi, Time Raveler.Your decklist should be tuned to your own needsbased on your local metagame.
Force of Negation (4)
Tune the Narrative (3)
Wrath of the Skies (3)
Arena of Glory (1)
Key Cards
Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury
Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury will be the source of most of your damage and some of your creature removal, making itan integral part of the deck. It’s a 6/6 for one red, one white, and one generic mana whichdeals three damage to any target and gains your three life each time it enters the battlefield or attacks.
The drawback is that you have to sacrifice it immediately if it wasn’t cast for its steeper escape cost, two each of white and red mana, plus exiling five other cards from your graveyard.
Lacking any way to mill yourself or discard,Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury needs to be cast in two stagesin most circumstances: you need to cast it from your hand for three mana and sacrifice it, then later escape it from your graveyard so that it can stick around.
Don’t hesitate on the initial cast just because you’ll need to sacrifice Phlage: that’s an opportunity todestroy a problematic creature or chip away at your opponent’s lifewhile gaining a few vital life yourself.
Wrath of the Skies
Wrath of the Skies providesinexpensive, precise board wipes, allowing you to pay energy to set the mana value of the creatures, artifacts, and enchantments it will destroy. If your opponent only has creatures with mana values below three, this becomesan asymmetric boardwipe for the same cost as Wrath of God. If they only have tokens, two white mana destroys their whole game plan.
Includingother energy-generating spellssuch as Tune the Narrative and Galvanic Dischargeallow you to stockpile energy countersso that you can play Wrath of the Skies for a stronger effect with less mana. Casting it for two white and spending your energy from these other sources can leave you with plenty of mana to escape Phlage again on the same turn
The One Ring
The One Ring is a staple in every Modern deck, providingboth protection and card draw. As soon as you cast it, you gain protection from everything for a turn, allowing you to have a little breathing room while your opponent is prevented from doing any damage to you. You can also use it to get an increasing number of cards, along with losing the same amount of life in your next upkeep.
Paired with Minamo, School at Water’s Edge, The One Ring can be used twice on the turn that it comes into play to draw three cards immediately, and seven the following turn, providing you withan excellent draw engine as long as you have the life to pay for it.
This strategy of untapping The One Ring for multiple uses minimizes the life loss effect by eliminating every other instance: After drawing three cards in a turn you’ll only lose two life, then after drawing seven cards you’ll only lose four life, and so on.
Force of Negation
While this deck has access to red mana, it doesn’t include much spot removal for creatures, and none for artifacts. Instead, it includes Force of Negation andCounterspell to prevent them from coming into playin the first place.
This is particularly important for common cards like The One Ring, which is not only indestructible but also protects your opponent from Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury for a whole turn, giving them the opportunity to come up with a foil to what you imagined was a winning boardstate.
to use counters effectively,you’ll need to keep some mana available, especially if your opponent is playing a similar deck. For this reason the deck is a little heavy on land, and it’s important not to miss land drops.Think carefully before trading counters with your opponent: if you go in haphazardly, you may lose all of your card advantage and end up tapped out without making any progress.
Jeskai Energy Deck Strategy
The Jeskai energy strategy is surprisingly straightforward: getPhlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury into play, and swing for lethal. But as simple as that strategy is, the Modern format makes gameplay much more complex.
Phlage deals three damage to a target each time it comes into play or attacks, so you may be tempted to play it onto an empty board on turn three to burn your opponent, escape it on turn four for the same, and swing on turn five for a total of fifteen damage.
However, you need tokeep an eye on your opponent’s creaturesthat may attack you or block Phlage,and build up enough cards in your graveyard to pay Phlage’s escape cost. You also don’t want to keep it in your graveyard for very long, since cards like Soul-Guide Lantern can exile it before it can escape.
Since this is a control deck, you’ll often want toplay more reactive than proactive, especially in the early game. Protect yourself in the first few turns, countering problematic spells and destroying threatening creatures while you build up your mana base and fish for key cards like Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury and The One Ring.
Look for opportunities to cast Tune the Narrative tobuild up an energy stockpileor cycle Lórien Revealed for your next land drop without leaving an opening for your opponent to sneak in a spell.
Since most of your spells require blue mana,don’t counter creatures you can kill with Galvanic Blastas soon as they’re in play, especially if they only have one or two toughness. This leaves your blue-producing lands untapped, threatening your opponent with future counters, adds energy to your stockpile, and puts another card into your graveyard to pay for Phlage later.
Phlage itself can be cast for its mana value to destroy a problematic creature, which also serves to put it into your graveyard for later. Late in the game you may even be able to cast it and then escape immediately, destroying two of your opponent’s creatures or their own Phlage and having it ready to attack the next turn.
Force of Negation and Subtlety provide you with options to react to your opponent even while tapped out at the cost of a blue card from your hand.Subtlety also provides a backup attackerthat may get some hits while your opponent focuses on keeping Phlage nailed down.
If you’re playing against another Jeskai energy control deck, it’s vital that you get Teferi, Time Raveler into play and protect him.Forcing your opponent to play at sorcery speed means that their counters are effectively useless, and prohibits them from doing anything on your turn so that they can untap on theirs.
Watch for them to target it with Subtlety, Galvanic Discharge, and Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury, and counter or redirect to keep Teferi around to gum up their works.
The sideboard contains several tools to deal with specific deck archetypes, especially other control decks. In a mirror match, you canuse Surgical Extraction to remove all copies of Phlage from your opponent’s hand, deck, and graveyard, eliminating their primary win condition.
Mystical Dispute gives you the upper hand in counter battles, allowing you to counter your opponent’s blue spells for one mana.Obsidian Charmaw shuts down Trondecks that would otherwise outpace you due to heavy mana ramp.
