Lantern of Insight – MTG Card Review – COTD

With a recent Modern pro tour cycle having finished, I figured it would be a good time to look at some of the “weirder” cards that have made a splash in Modern. And first up is the namesake of the winning deck of Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, Lantern Control. The lantern in question is an innocuous-looking uncommon from Fifth Dawn, Lantern of Insight.

First, let’s talk about what the deck is. Lantern Control is a prison deck that aims to grind your opponent out of the game through a combination of mill cards (a combination of Pyxis of Pandemonium and Codex Shredder) and some win conditions otherwise (like Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas), with Witchbane Orb and Ensnaring Bridge to lock your opponent out of (hopefully) ever interacting with you. The key is that you need to know what your opponent is looking to draw into, which is where Lantern of Insight comes into play, a unique effect at a low cost. It’s rare you’ll need to use the second effect to make your opponent shuffle, but it’s a way to make sure they don’t draw the card they need, and it lets you decide whether to let them draw that land or mill away the answer they have.

Lantern of Insight is an excellent example of a card that looks bad, but synergizes delightfully well with the pieces of the deck to make a monstrosity that can grind an unwitting opponent out of the game. Be mindful of how hard the deck is to play, though; you need to be able to get the lock established quickly, and you need to know how to pilot the deck through each turn, minimizing your exposure to artifact hate. And the deck wins slowly, so also be mindful of that.

Constructed: 4.75
Casual: 3
Limited: 2
Multiplayer: 3.25
Commander: 3