Gather round ladies and gentlemen, for there is a story to tell, and at the end of it, an invitation to a deck that has won my heart (and hopefully the hearts of many more to come).

Five years ago, when I began playing Magic after school in a cramped chemistry classroom, the first concept introduced to me was color identity.

“You see, certain color combinations are better at some things than others” explained, Mr. Webster, the kind, red-bearded teacher leading the club. “If you want to swarm the board, white and red are the colors for you” he continued. “If you want to raise the dead, green and black can do the trick…and finally,” he added “white and blue are the colors you need if you want to control the board and use countermagic.”

When I was finally ready to take on the multiverse with my newly formed knowledge of deck design, Theros block had arrived, and with it, some new implementations within its two-color combinations. Specifically, the first deck that I witnessed in a match happened to be UW Heroic. Seeing a deck like this in action completely shattered my understanding of color identity. A UW deck, matched up against a RG deck, played the role of aggressor! Battlewise Hoplite and friends with sporting Ordeals, Aqueous Forms and the most hilarious of all, Hidden Strings, all took over the board and brutalized the opposing player.  Awestruck, I knew immediately that this was the deck I wanted to build and master. I loved this deck as any new player loves their first deck. The fluid style of pressure and protection of UW Heroic was incredibly satisfying to play. Evasive combat tricks, value generation through synergies, and learning how to clock effectively were some of the main lessons that guided my learning of the game and acquainted me with my preferred playstyle of Magic.

Flash-forward five years to present day and the more things change, the more they stay the same. I am now a Modern man and have recently made a remarkable discovery. Here, in our uncharted ocean that is the meta of Modern, a deck long-forgotten waits in anticipation. A small, yet devoted player base, committed to honing the craft of adaptability over the years, has been stirring its slumber. The deck in question is UW Midrange, and has walked a curious and often misunderstood line in Modern’s rich history. Many players view the format as rigid and static. In their minds, there exist only three viable archetypes; hyper-aggro, combo and pure control, so why would anyone play something else? To explain why a deck like UW Midrange deserves another look, here is a famous quote from Bruce Lee:

“[One] shouldn’t get set into one form. Adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot.”

UW Midrange is, at its essence, water as well. Balanced and fluid, this deck rewards players who correctly assess their match-up, analyse each situation carefully, and make clean and concise lines of play as a result. Any chemist can tell you, water can either be an effective acid or base depending on what it reacts with, and likewise, a good player should know when to be proactive and when to be reactive. No deck teaches you this lesson as well as UW Midrange. No two games will ever play out the same with this deck and if you enjoy that type of mental footwork, then this is a deck you should be considering.

For this deck, we will actually be using three different lists as an amalgamation of the decklist. Although the lists are largely the same, the consistent core demonstrates to players agreement on card choice and the minor differences help display how tuning for individual metas can refine this list to a spear tip. Lets examine three lists from Takaya Saito (Curryvore), Francesco Neo Amati (Neo7hinker), myself (BrainCrane):

Curryvore’s UW Midrange [5-0 October 2018]

Francesco Neo Amati’s UW Midrange [October 2018]

My List [October 2018]

Ghosts of UW Midrange’s Past

First, to truly understand the deck of UW Midrange today, and why some of these cards are significant, you must first understand cards that were, up until a few months ago, used and why they’re gone now:

Spreading Seas
The tech originally pioneered by Bennyhillz has fallen out of favor as of late. Spreading Seas (and most mana denial cards) are pretty poorly positioned currently as some of the most popular decks currently (Humans, Burn, Affinity, KCI & UW control) aren’t terribly hurt by them.

Serum Visions
Serum Visions isn’t necessarily out of this deck forever, however with the recent addition of more Snapcasters in UW Midrange, Opt stands above it in terms of operating at instant speed. In a reactive deck without a combo, I’ll take the option to play at instant speed over an extra scry every day of the week, especially with 3 Snaps. Restoration Angel blinking Snap to target Opt is also a beautiful sequence. If you’re on two, then Serum Visions may be the better choice.

Planeswalkers
This is the largest change in our list, in my opinion, and pioneered (as most innovations are in UW Midrange) by Curryvore. While I can certainly see variations of this list with JtMS and/or Teferi in it, Midrange doesn’t make full use out of large sorcery-speed threats that don’t interact with Restoration Angel in a meaningful way. These Walkers have a support role here rather than being the centerpiece as they would be in Miracles.

That said, this has been one of the best shells for Jace since you can lead into him with protection on the field via Omens and Finks. Beyond that, all of his abilities are live, including the ability to Unsummon your creatures for additional ETB value or to save a large threat before sweeping the board. Fateseal is especially valuable to a fair deck like this one, especially after you’ve established control and are ready to turn the corner.

Teferi was decent in the Seas version, but is better positioned in this update with more instant speed spells like Snapcaster Mage, Opt, and counters. Its +1 is even reasonable after you tap for Omens or Finks, since you can then leave mana open to counter or flash in a threat like Clique or Resto. It’s certainly a powerful curve topper here that gives us another angle. It provides card advantage, removal, and an alternative win condition. If you’re up against an aggressive deck, you can naturally swap it out for Lyra/Gearhulk. It’s a cohesive 75 that just flows.

In order for a deck to distinguish itself from similar archetypes *cough UW Control cough cough*, one needs to differ in deck identity and game plan enough to not be simply classified as a worse version of its bigger brother. This deck does not durdle. It should be equally balanced between pro-activity and reactivity.

Core Packages & New Toys

*I’ve highlighted recent additions to this list to illustrate what it’s replaced and why.

4x Restoration Angel
For a long time, I ran Restoration Angel as a 3-of, but the more and more I played UW Midrange, the more I realized that this deck could be renamed Resto.dec. Restoration Angel is the quintessential core card for this deck. All of our creatures are good on their own, but when you combine them with Resto’s ETB, they become excellent. The possibilities with Restoration Angel are limitless, and you will never truly master UW Midrange before you master this card.

Wall of Omens & Opt
These cards are the legs required for this deck to consistently survive and eventually turn the corner. They provide valuable effects on the board without costing us any card advantage, allowing us to dig deeper in our decks for answers and threats later on. Regardless, if you’re playing Opt over Serum or Seas in addition to Omens, the magic number is for this deck is 7-8. Eight should be the number you strive for in cantrip effects to make your deck powerfully consistent. Each card in our deck has varying effectiveness depending on what our opponent is playing, it is this reason that makes it imperative to have the ability to dig for our relevant answers and threats each and every time.

Kitchen Finks & Vendilion Clique
These are our best friends that play into the bilateral nature of our deck. Kitchen Finks is an all-star versus linear aggro and midrange decks. Finks effectively gums up the board, presents a difficult to remove body, gives us life gain against aggressive decks, and is a value town target for Restoration Angel. Vendilion Clique, on the other hand, deals with combo and control nicely. As our only form of hand disruption in UW, Clique provides valuable insight into our opponent’s hands and improves our chances against unfair decks. Finks and Clique are rarely both great in the same game, but are valuable against their respective match-ups.

Supreme Verdict/Settle the Wreckage/Wrath of God
Don’t leave home without these. Sweepers let us have the reset button we need against any and all creature based decks. A diversification between a Supreme Verdict and Settle the Wreckage in the mainboard allows us to diversify our answers on boardstate-dependent games, as well as not get completely shut out by Meddling Mage. Run at least three in your 75.

Snapcaster Mage
I will admit it seems a little odd that Snapcaster, normally a mainstay in all blue decks, is only now a recent addition. In the past, the amount of instants and sorceries, when on Spreading Seas and planeswalkers, was lower, and Snapcaster Mage would usually just be an Ambush Viper. However, once you break the 13-14 instant/sorcery range, Snap becomes playable and in all three lists, in which we have a minimum 17. It’s also great when we’re aggressively using Cryptic Command to repeatedly fog and beatdown.

Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Fresh off the presses of Curryvore’s latest 5-0, this boy is some spicy tech that the rest of us overlooked. Gearhulk does a lot of things for this deck out the board. First of all, it is a nightmare for Humans and Spirits. It dodges Thalia & Gaddock Teeg, it can’t be taken by Kitesail, Reflector Mage would be foolish to bounce it, yet no one in their right mind would ever name Cataclysmic Gearhulk with Meddling Mage.  Against Spirits, it completely ignores Mausoleum Wanderer, Spell Queller, and Selfless Spirit. Secondly, it turns the corner very quick for us. With normal sweepers, you need a threat to go along with it otherwise you will merely durdle. With Gearhulk, it is the sweeper and with a 4/5 Vigilance body, it will get to pound town very quickly. Lastly, with Restoration Angel, you have the concurrent threat of bouncing Gearhulk if your opponent ever happens to rebuild their boardstate. Seriously, take a hint from GW Value Town and keep Gearhulk in your sideboard.

Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir & Cavern of Souls
UW Midrange has a solid match-up against Control because of its Flash creatures plus counters, but Miracles has proven to be quite a challenge. Teferi not only puts a halt to the way they function, but it also stops their Miracle trigger, Ancestral Vision, and counterspells entirely! It complements our design and allows us to advance our gameplan. Teferi can also be played vs Combo and Tempo. To add insult to injury, the deck now plays a single copy of Cavern of Souls, and naming Angel or Wizard against Control, or even a Tempo deck like UR Wizards, can be a blowout.

Now with some of the important parts of the deck overview, lets go over how UW Midrange fares against some of the top contenders in Modern’s ever-growing format…

Match-ups

Humans

The big baddie of the format. 5C humans is the litmus test of potential decks viability in modern currently. And for us in this matchup, the name of the game is sweepers. Originally, the likelihood of you being able to resolve one is about 50/50 pre and post-board, and, as such, the matchup was about as even as it could get. However, with the addition of Gearhulk, you’re favored post-board. Adding some extra spot removal like condemn/oust can help you even more in this matchup.

B – Slightly Favorable

Burn/Runaway Red

This deck should never, ever be losing to these two decks. Period. Kitchen Finks and Wall of Omens are at their very best here. Add on the fact that we have Lyra post-board to make all our Resto Angels turn into 4/5 lifelinkers. You should have no difficulty gaining lots of life, walling off lots of little creatures, and smashing lots of face.

A – Favorable

G Tron

This is the one match-up that took a big hit from losing Spreading Seas. With Spreading Seas alongside a full playset of Field of Ruin plus counters and pressure, this match-up was easily 60-40 in our favor. However, there’s an opportunity cost to everything, and when we helped our match-up versus linear aggro, we lost some against Tron. Now the match-up feels much more up in the air based on starting hands. If Tron is big in your meta, Ceremonious Rejection, Stony Silence, Ghost Quarter, Crucible of Worlds, and Surgical Extraction can help out with this match-up.

C – Even

Hollow One

In a deck built on randomness, it can be hard to conclude definitive results. Some games against them they will only have two to three threats by turn four and it will feel like a cakewalk. In others you will be staring at two Hollow Ones on turn one and wondering why you’re trying to play fair magic at all. In general, Hollow One feels even game one and favourable post-board. Our removal suite of Path and Detention Sphere do wonders against their recursive threats and postboard Rest in Peace and sweeper is usually enough to close out the game.

B – Slightly Favorable

KCI Combo

Not only is this deck a terror for tournament magic, it is also a terror for UW Midrange preboard. Game one against them feels about as unfavorable as a match-up can get. Post-board, with Snapcasters and counters, it is possible to hold them back from playing solitaire for 20 minutes but it is definitely an uphill battle. Surgical Extraction and Rest in Peace can help, too. Cutting Seas against this match-up felt good as it was a dead fish vs this deck, but I’m not ready to put this above slightly unfavorable yet. The current list doesn’t play any Stony Silence, but one to two should remain a consideration. Be sure to bring in Dispel to protect your hate, too.

D – Slightly Unfavorable

Dredge

Recursive threats are met with Path to Exile, Detention Sphere, and Settle the Wreckage. Unlike Control, we also have the ability to stave off aggressive beats with Omens and Finks, then stabilize with Restoration Angel/Lyra Dawnbringer/Cataclysmic Gearhulk. However, it is possible to run out of gas vs Dredge and then eventually get overrun, especially G1 where we’re definitely unfavored.

As others have lamented, Creeping Chill is definitely the most problematic card. Post-board, we have several tools to improve our odds. Three to four Rest in Peace, one to two Surgical Extraction, more Settle the Wreckage, possibly Runed Halo, Negate, Lyra, and Gearhulk should put us in a better position. This one has been between slightly unfavorable and even overall, but it’s mostly contingent on their starts and us drawing, resolving, and sticking Rest in Peace, while surviving to T4+, where we can stabilize, recover, and take over with our powerful top end threats.

D – Slightly Unfavorable to C – Even

*Depending on configuration and plan, it could easily be argued that this match-up could either be unfavorable or even.

BGx/Mardu Pyro

The name of the game in these match-ups are two-for-one’s. Bolt is ridiculously bad at dealing with our threats in this deck and cards like Resto Angel only further this issue for them. Since we run little-to-no planeswalkers, the largest threat they can hit with Assassin’s Trophy game one is a Resto Angel, which is basically just makes it a worse Terminate. These decks are also largely limited to operating at sorcery speed with their threats, whereas we have the luxury of Flash. Cards like Lingering Souls and Bedlam Reveler can be a big source of card advantage, and having to deal with Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge (consider Disenchant) make Mardu Pyro a little harder than BGx, but both match-ups are generally even to slightly favorable.

B – Slightly Favorable (BGx)

C – Even (Mardu Pyro)

UW/Bant Spirits

One of Spirits’ main strengths is the evasion their entire deck has over most of the format. However, against our deck, the evasion isn’t so…evasive. The Drogskol duo is usually is a death sentence for other Midrange decks but can be easily killed by a flashed Resto Angel. Against Bant, turn one Noble Hierarch can be very tough for this deck to deal with effectively as well as Collected Company providing a critical mass Bant Spirits can use to overwhelm this deck. Spell Queller is also pretty annoying with being able to exile Supreme Verdict. Post-board, Cataclysmic and/or Lyra will often blow them right out of the water, and for that, you have yourself a slightly favorable match-up vs UW, with perhaps only even vs Bant.

B – Slightly Favorable (UW)

C – Even (Bant)

Elves/Merfolk

These decks are less popular than they used to be in recent years. I’m personally not complaining. Merfolk disables our Walls and Finks gameplan through Islandwalk and can race us down before we stabilize. Elves can often generate too many threats while still keeping a stocked hand thanks to Lead the Stampede. Thankfully, there are some ways around this that aren’t just dodging the match-up. Three sweepers plus twp Gearhulk post-board provide some good board control. Oust and Spell Snare can provide some extra early game control and Cryptic Commands will often function just as good as wrath effects while trying to race. With all of that being said, however, it still is a slightly unfavorable match-up.

D – Slightly Unfavorable

UW Miracles

Most of you reading this are likely intrigued the most by this match-up, and while I would love to make some extraordinary claim one way of the other, the match-up is anything but. Flash creatures go a long way to hinder the countermagic and Terminus of Miracles, and a resolved Ancestral Visions or Teferi can go a long way to pull miracles far enough ahead of this deck. I keep a Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in my sideboard for this match-up, but other good choices include Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Geist of Saint Traft, or even extra copies of Vendilion Clique. I would say that the match-up generally boils down to experience over everything else. All in all, a solid even.

C – Even

To conclude, UW Midrange is the deck that defies the majority opinion of the format and plays something a little off its normal color identity. I never could have anticipated that my enjoyment of UW Heroic would come full circle to greet me again five years later, and I welcome it with a full embrace. UW Midrange is the deck to play if you want dynamic and thought-intensive gameplay out of your decks. It is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding decks I have ever played and the skill curve will always leave you feeling like you can improve.

Francesco’s philosophy of mastering your craft, playing what you know best, while assessing and adapting, such as Curryvore has with UW Midrange or Reid Duke with BGx, is encapsulated in this analogy he shared with me:

“Metaphorically and philosophically, choosing and mastering a deck in Modern is like choosing and mastering a martial art. For someone like Bruce Lee, for instance, a fighter’s art choice complements their strengths, but is also a reflection of their values and an extension of who they are. They’re not going to train or learn a different fighting style just because it might give them a better % of winning a fight against a particular martial artist. They can incorporate some elements of other art forms, but they’re going to stick to what they’ve mastered and use experience as their leverage. Against the odds, they choose to fight smarter, not faster or stronger.”

Be water, my friend.

If you would like to read up more on this archetype, then Francesco Neo Amati’s UW Midrange Primer is the first place you should go.

As always,
Peace, love & Resto beats