Once again I’ve decided to go for a 5­-color control build and I think this version of the archetype is even more powerful than the last. The incentive to play five colors here is two copies of Skyreach Manta and Etched Oracle which go from cards you can’t even play to all-stars in the right shell.

Wildfire and Savage Twister are completely ridiculous in this format. Many of the cards in Modern Masters 2015 make you want to play low-curve aggressive decks and having sweepers is key for the control decks. You can win without them, but having one in your deck means you have a card that at almost any point will win the game. Wildfire specifically combines well with mana ramp and Karoo lands to decimate some board states.

Pelakka Wurm is a messed up Magic card. You could remove any one of its abilities and it would still be a messed up Magic card. When you decide it’s time to turn the corner and close out the game there’s no better way to do it than with a 7/7 trampler. When you’re behind and you need a little bit of life gain, how’s 7 life out of nowhere? And if your opponent has a removal spell of any kind you still gain 7 life and draw a card. That’s absurd!

Bestial Menace is a high quality card as well that you can’t cut. I don’t have any Scion of the Wild for any kind of token synergy payoff, but it doesn’t matter. Being resistant to removal and high impact when you’re behind in a game is very important. If you’re green you should always play this card regardless of what the rest of your deck looks like.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth was the final inclusion in the deck and to be honest I’m unsure if he’s a good fit here. Card advantage plus a bomb is sweet and all, but everything I know and understand about Magic tells me it’s a bad idea to put a 10-casting-cost spell in my deck. With multiple Karoo lands in the deck that means I am capable of making up to 18 total mana in my deck that only plays 17 lands—that isn’t counting Alloy Myr or most importantly:­ 2 copies of Kozilek’s Predator. It’s a bit speculative to include him and if you’re skeptical, I could easily see swapping him out for Terashi’s Grasp, Gut Shot, or Shadowmage Infiltrator.